Once More with Feeling
by Crazy-88
Summary: Third Impact AU. Shinji Ikari survives Third Impact only to find out that the end of everything is just the beginning...
1. Disclaimer

This is a fic I had been working on since...hell, around half to a decade ago now after having my mind destroyed by 'The End of Evangelion'.

The idea being basically that Shinji decides in Third Impact to 'go back', but Lilith takes a different idea of what 'go back' means, inserts a steel rod into his back to make up for his complete lack of a spine in the OT, then sends him BACK into the past. Angst mostly intact, but with full knowledge of the future and the ability to actually stand up for himself (shock horror!).

I hacked out quite a bit, and then never did anything with it. It stayed on an old HDD, which I had long since taken out and forgotten about having taken it out of my computer. I very recently purchased a USB external rack for IDE hard drives and had been browsing over all my old drives, mostly to see if there was anything cool I had lost on them…and found this.

I was going to just dump it with my half a dozen other 'prototype' chapters for other fanfics which never really went anywhere, but I thought it might be interesting to get some feedback on them from people here.

Now bear in mind I've only given it a rather brief overview so this thing is going to be probably FILLED with errors. It was also written before I knew as much as I do now about NGE, so there may be glaring errors.

But I'd be interested if anyone has any feedback to offer about it, mostly because it was written in a somewhat different tone and style then I have done in any of my writing, at least to a certain extent. While I'll happily accept 'good work, keep going' feedback of course (I DO have an ego after all) I'd be more happy with (constructive) criticism, if the characters are about right or way off (bearing in mind this IS an AU Shinji and ripples will come from his very presence), if any of my facts are horribly wrong…if its a good idea, if its been 'done' zillions of times (I seriously have no clue about Anime FF I've never really looked into it until this week and there appears to be a massive world of conventions, styles, terminologies and so on I have no clue about). Bear in mind its still a secondary project for me, my primary fan fiction project remains a Stargate-nBSG crossover which I have planned out in exhausting detail...

Anyway, if I get enough solid feedback to work with, I might well continue this thing. Otherwise I'll be just as happy to let it die. Ever since Renewal of Evangelion was announced, I've gone all Eva happy, hence this being dusted off :)


	2. Prologue

_--Evangelion OST II, Track 03: Borderline Case--_

_Is this what death feels like?_

The first coherent thought to come to Shinji Ikari's mind in the last hour (or century or millennium for that matter) was strangely ambivalent, given the situation he found himself in.

It wasn't so much that he didn't _care_ if he was alive or not, but more that he just didn't know and was curious to find out.

Feeling returned to his limbs, he felt as if he was lying on an infinitely soft pillow. Somehow he knew he was naked, but it seemed an utter irrelevancy as he opened his eyes. The sky above him was a red, wavering night sky, almost as if he was submerged deep under the surface of an ocean. The moon hovered above him, far closer then he knew it should be, though when he blinked to clear his eyes, he found that the Earths only natural satellite had been replaced by a more familiar figure.

Rei Ayanami's face hovered above his own, looking down at him with a curious expression as her hair fluttered, almost like it was caught in some current he couldn't feel. The rational part of his mind, still in the grip of an inhuman calm noted that she was sitting on him and –in- him in a way that probably wasn't quite right, but somehow felt utterly correct given everything that had happened since he had woken up today.

"Ayanami... where are we?"

"This is the sea of LCL... The primordial soup of life" she replied softly. "A world without AT Fields... without your own shape. An ambiguous world where it is impossible to tell where you end and other people start. A fragile world where you exist everywhere, and thus exist nowhere."

Shinji allowed his thoughts to drift as he considered Rei's words with a feeling of supreme detachment. Somehow he knew she was telling the truth, he could feel her, ever so gently holding his mind, his sense of self aloof from the siren call of what was now humanity, allowing him to think clearly, even as memories that were not his own burned into him from that mass of noise…

"Have I died?" he asked in a tone of mild curiosity, part of him not really caring about the answer.

"No" Rei allowed with the slightest shake of her head, setting her blue hair waving. "Everything has just been joined into one. This is the world you have been hoping for... your world".

_My world_ he thought to himself. _This is what I wanted…what was it he had said again? Oh yes, 'nobody wants me, everyone should just die'. That was what I had decided. _

And his decision had been granted, the small rational part of his mind decided. Every person on Earth had died and been reborn into the primordial soup. No longer existing as individuals…but as everything…and nothing…nothing…nothing…

No barriers between him…between Rei sitting on top of him…and he knew if he relaxed into that siren song Rei was holding him apart from, he would have nothing between him and Askua, Mistao, Father…

So then, who was he?

If there was no difference between him and everyone else, who was Shinji Ikari? Who was Asuka Langley Soryu? Who was Misato Katsuragi? Who was Gendo Ikari?

Was there any difference then, between humans at all?

Or was this the ultimate trap? By running, to get away from everyone, would he would he end up becoming one _with _everyone? To the point that he no longer existed?

"But... this isn't right. I don't think this is right" he said in confusion, that slowly solidified into an absolutely serine knowledge that this was all one, big, lie.

"If you wish once more for the existence of others, the barriers of the heart will separate everyone once more" Rei pointed out softly, studying his face intently, no longer disinterested. "And the fear of other people will begin again."

"I know" Shinji admitted, slowly reaching up to gently touch her arms at the elbows. Understanding him, she in turn straightened up from where she had been leaning over him, her hands which had been somehow deep inside him, withdrawing to gently grip his own. Curiously, Shinji felt Rei's own presence becoming _distant_ from him at the same time, from where it had been cradling his mind almost lovingly, along with the background "noise" of humanity filtered through her mind. "But I wish it…I just wish…I could go back…I think now…I could find value in my life. I think it would be worth living…"

Rei inclined her head ever so slightly as she studied him…then she arched her back suddenly, closing her eyes as her hands held his tightly.

Somehow, through her mind, Shinji _saw_ the enormous figure of Rei, of Lilith also, arching its back in pain or ecstasy, the slightest gasp escaping its mouth as its enormous white wings were joined, then intertwined an equally titanic spread of golden wings as a sound like Unit 01 roaring started to overlay everything. Sharing the Angels awareness for that brief time, Shinji's mind shuddered back from that awesome being as incomprehensible forces were unleashed by his final decision in Third Impact, reaching out across infinity.

Stars, nebulas, Galaxies, all appeared to shudder to a halt as everything went dim, as if the universe itself was closing its eyes for one enormous sneeze-


	3. Sachiel

"We're sorry, due to the special state of emergency no lines are currently available. This is a recording".

Shinji Ikari did not fall to the ground in shock only because his mind was still so hyper stimulated from the events of the last few hours (or years or millennia, he just didn't know) that it took several seconds for where he was to become fully apparent in his mind.

Those few seconds passed.

_Then_ he let the green handle from the payphone slip from his hand in shock, stumbling back and looking around.

_No, this isn't possible, it isn't real it…it…_

Shaking his head in a vain attempt to clear it, he forced himself to breathe normally, banishing the almost instinctive spike of panic he had felt rising with several steady breaths that got his facing heart back under control, before letting his senses slowly take in everything.

He was standing on the street of a village, which he remembered was on Japans Eastern Seaboard on the rail line to Tokyo 3. Dozens of cars lay abandoned along the length of the street, doors left open speaking to the haste in which they had been abandoned for the dubious safety of shelters.

Weighing even more heavily in the air was the complete lack of human sound. No cars moved around and the train station a couple of blocks away was utterly silent. No people moved with a purpose, no electronics sounded…there was nothing but the omnipresent buzzing of cicadas.

It was about this time some of his other senses finally started to report in and he glanced at his right hand, feeling the small, stiff, piece of cardboard that was grasped in it.

Unbelieving, yet at the same time absolutely certain he knew what he would find, he slowly lifted it up.

The card…was a picture of Major Misato Katsuragi...or rather _Captain _Misato Katsuragi.

In a rather revealing outfit…on a beach.

With the familiar scrawl of her handwriting across it, promising to pick him up today…and directing his attention to attributes probably not suitable for a 29 year old woman to flaunt to a 14 year old child.

And under the postcard, wrapped around his hand…which now started to shake, was a long string necklace, attached to a simple white cross.

A cross stained by a splash of blood.

Steadying himself with his left hand against the wall, he gripped the cross tightly as his head started to feel all too light, forcing himself to control his breathing carefully, his eyes looking around in confusion-

-and locking onto the ghostly figure of Rei Ayanami, standing in the middle of the street.

Time all but stopped as his attention locked in on her the rest of the world suddenly becoming irrelevant. The rational part of his mind pointed out that if he really _had_ somehow traveled back in time as he was_starting_ to suspect, then the presence staring at him was an impossibility.

Rei was at least sixty Kilometers away, lying crippled in a hospital bed, deep inside Central Dogma.

Yet…he could _feel_her.

It was a presence that_was_ Rei, yet at the same time it was _more_ then Rei, an echo of the same overwhelming power that had washed over him during the Third Impact as humanity had been forcibly transformed.

Rei, Lilith, Adam, Kaworu, the presence was all of them, yet it was none of them.

And he could feel the question they were asking.

_Is this what you want?_

He had said that he had wished he could go back.

He _had_ gone back.

He didn't know if he had _wanted _to go back here. Or if Rei had simply misunderstood when he had used the indefinite pronoun "back"…

This life he would live might not be pleasant.

But it was not a lie.

And it was now his to live.

Not to exist.

To _live_.

_Thank you_.

The ghostly apparition inclined its head slightly at his thought; the slightest smile twitching onto its face…then it vanished from the universe, as if it had never existed.

The absolute, universal silence Shinji had existed in for those heartbeats shattered with the loud _CRACK _of an explosion, followed by a shockwave that almost jolted his still somewhat unsteady legs from under him. The garage doors around him rocked and vibrated as the shockwave played over them, overhead power cables adding their own symphony of whistling as they were thrown back and forth by the blast of air.

Slowly, Shinji turned as a familiar hissing drone started to sound, rapidly increasing in volume. He had evidence enough to know where and when he was and what he would see when he turned…

But part of him just couldn't accept this without looking.

At the far end of the village, a lush ridgeline blocked off the urban sprawl of this village from easy expansion, protecting a broad valley on its far side that was backstopped in the distance by yet another ridge, the long valley formed by the twin ridgelines leading down to Japans 'new' coastline several kilometers away. Drifting up the valley, a half squadron of AV-14C gunships backed into view, fanning out over the village in a rough semi circle.

Following them, came a titanic figure…one that caused a ball of ice to form in the pit of his stomach.

It was as tall as the ridgelines that flanked the valley, spindly yet moving with a deliberate and implacable stride as it moved into the urban areas and away from the coastline. Its 'skin' was a verdant green, covering its dangling arms and long legs, punctuated by white, bony looking structures over its shoulders and along its flanks, offset by a huge red sphere embedded in its chest. A beaklike 'head' sat on its shoulders, which appeared to look around curiously as it planted its feet into the edge of the village itself. A low rumble issued from the giant, as if it was mocking the attack craft arrayed against it.

_And its name_, Shinji knew, _was_ Sachiel.

_--Evangelion OST I, Track 03: Angel Attack--_

Behind him with a_snap-hiss, _a VTOL fired a pair of heavy anti tank missiles at the now stationary Angel, the warheads skidding intelligently around a building in their way, to guide unerringly towards the giant, joined by another half a dozen smoke trails, all of which detonated against the target in an enormous explosion, the noise of which was drowned out by the thunder of the gunships engines as it roared over him towards the combat zone.

Shinji had been extensively trained in multiple combat techniques to use against Angels.

Hand to hand (without an Evangelion) was not one of them.

Shoving the postcard and necklace into his pocket, he spun on his feet and sprinted away from the combat zone, making it a good half block down the street before he heard the crash of the VTOL behind him. Looking down the street intently, he smiled for the first time since finding himself "here" as he saw a sleek blue car screaming down the road towards him. Waving towards it, he caught the driver's attention, causing her to throw the sports car into a shrieking, speed killing 180 degree turn, coming to a complete stop bare meters away.

"Get in, sorry I'm late" Misato Katsuragi started to apologize with a sheepish looking grin, but Shinji was already moving and jumped inside the car, shouting "GO" as he slammed the door shut, twisting to look out the back window.

Misato didn't hesitate as an irritated looking Angel suddenly leaped down from the sky on top of the shot down VTOL, detonating its unfired munitions and fuel tanks in a roaring explosion that sent shrapnel ripping into the location Misato had previously held, but had abandoned as she slalomed around abandoned vehicles with a light touch, skidding around corners into a series of cross streets as she worked her way back towards the highway, putting the dubious protection of several city blocks between them and the Angel.

"Nice timing" Shinji managed to get out as the car stopped rocking, releasing his death grip on the seat long enough to strap in, just in time for Misato threw her car around another corner and onto the onramp for the Tokyo 3 highway, the NERV officer just grinning at him before turning her attention (wisely) back to the road. Shinji took a last glance back at the battle as Misato roared up into the hills, his mind rocking back as the deeper implications of where he was started to kick in.

_Should I pilot EVA again_ Shinji asked himself. _I have a choice this time, I could just _leave, _walk away from all of this_.

'And then what?' another part of his mind mockingly asked back. Shinji frowned slightly at the traitorous voice coming from inside his head.

_Leave this city! Go back to my Uncles place-_

'And what will your Father do then?' the voice pointed out.

…

'He will force Rei to pilot Unit One. And she will probably die'.

…

'Or the Angel will defeat Rei and initiate Third Impact'.

_Adam isn't even here! It _can't_ start Third Impact_ Shinji protested, idely wondering how he suddenly knew so much _about _Third Impact, but shoving that question aside for now.

'It will find Adam and there will be nothing able to stop it with NERV destroyed, Mistao dead, Rei dead, Akagi dead, Father dead, Aboa dead, Maya dead-'

…

'You know why you came back' the other part of his mind said flatly. 'You know what will happen if you do nothing. You wanted an opportunity to change things. You have that chance'.

_How can I possibly change future_ Shinji retorted as he thought over the awesome forces arrayed against him.

The Angels.

Father.

SEELE….

'Give a person a large enough lever and they can move the world' the other part of his mind replied. 'Unit One…can be that lever'.

It wasn't much of an answer Shinji decided…but it was enough.

_I will_ not _run away_. _Not this time. Not ever._

_I failed all of them once._

_I won't fail them again._

* * *

Sixty odd kilometers away from the forward edge of battle (and quite some distance 'below ground') another group of people were studying the Angel, though with a great deal less detachment and serine knowledge of what the future would bring.

"The target is still coming towards us, it's still headed straight for Tokyo 3" Shigeru Aoba warned, the main screen making his comments abundantly clear as the 'target' appeared to tire of using its energy rams to play 'tag' with the gunships, starting to move again on a direct line for Tokyo 3 with a deceptively slow looking gait.

"The air defense force just doesn't have the firepower to stop it!" a forward air controller on an AWACS high above the battlefield desperately added over the command channel as the savaged gunship squadrons withdrew to reform.

"Fire _everything_we've got!" one of a trio of khaki suited figures shouted from the back of the room into the command channel, in a voice filled with a mixture of rage and shock towards the target that continued to shrug off enough firepower to level a good sized down. "Mobilize everything from Atsugi and Iruma!"

"Don't hold_anything_ back!" a second figure put in. "Forget the God Damned budget; destroy that thing at any cost!" the officer demanded, a forgotten pencil held in his hand snapping into pieces as the rooms frustration mounted.

The officers watched in growing disbelief as a battery of general-purpose rocket launchers let loose salvos of huge surface to surface missiles which were about as effective as a fireworks display, followed by another wave of gunships to even less effect, and then in desperation had a conventionally armed ballistic missile from an orbiting B-83 bomber launched on a direct trajectory shot.

To the stunned disbelief of the military personnel watching, the target raised a hand as if to _catch_ the incoming missile, shattering the rocket down its length before the warhead and unspent fuel detonated in a gigantic explosion. Buildings designed to resist high level Earthquakes were flattened for blocks, the Angels position obscured in a gigantic explosion…that cleared to show a completely unscratched target.

At this point, the fist of the left most officer crashed onto the desk he was sitting at in an understandable need to lash out violently at the insanity of the situation, sending an ash tray full of cigarette butts bouncing into the air from the force of the blow.

"It's NOT POSSIBLE" he all but shouted. "That was a _direct_ _hit_!"

"The tank battalion's been wiped out!" the right most officer put in next as the rising causality listings updated on his secondary displays. "Guided missiles and artillery fire appear to have no effect!"

"Damnit" cursed the first officer again, choking back his rage enough to try and think clearly. "We're hitting it with everything we've GOT and we're not even touching it!"

Behind and to the side of the three officers, two men in uniforms of a vaguely paramilitary cut watched the UN Generals with exasperated expressions, like parents shaking their heads at children who stubbornly refused to believe that Santa Clause wasn't real even when catching their parents in the act of wrapping their presents.

"Looks like an A.T. field" Vice Commander Kōzō Fuyutsuki commented in the detached tone of an academic, as if this was all just some stimulating intellectual enterprise and those were not real pilots and soldiers out there being swatted down like bugs by this terrible creature.

"Yes" agreed the second man sitting in front of him in an equally dispassionate tone, his head resting lighting on his hands as he watched impatiently, waiting for the inevitable conclusion to this entertaining -but pointless- saga. "Conventional weapons are no match for the Angels".

Then right on time, one of the secure phones at the Generals desk buzzed. Gendo Ikari smirked slightly as the officer picked it up and acknowledged the orders. This promised to be mildly entertaining…

_--Craig Armstrong – Escape--_

"Don't stop" Shinji suddenly said.

Misato had started to back off the accelerator –probably for the first time since Shinji had jumped into the car she had done such a thing-, getting ready to pull over at the top of the hill and take a quick look back towards the battle, when the Third Child had suddenly decided to speak up.

"Eh?" Misato asked in a distracted tone, still caught up in the adrenaline of their close escape.

"Keep. Driving" he repeated in a somewhat more urgent tone. "Trust me on this Captain Katsuragi he continued, "It's really really not a good place to stop…please just keep going".

Misato frowned slightly at the look on the face of the Third Child, wondering how exactly he had known what she intended to do, but mentally shrugged and with an easy smile at him, shifted down a gear and hit the gas again.

_He's probably right to say we shouldn't stop_, she admitted to herself. Her job was to get him to NERV, not stop to gawk at the battle.

_If the operations department need my input, well that's what the satellite phone was for _she decided, turning West towards Tokyo 3 and rocketing down the backside of a large hill that cut off their view of the firefight-

"Okay stop here" Shinji spoke up, with an odd look on his face as if he was trying to remember something.

"Hey listen you" she said with mock gravity, "you don't side seat drive in my car, I am a _perfectly_ safe driver to be with and I-"

"Really RIGHT NOW" Shinji repeated in that same urgent tone, looking over at her with a pleading look. Sighing, Misato hit the breaks and the car skidded to a halt over a couple hundred meters, coming to rest at the base of the hill, somehow without spinning out. Turning a friendly if exasperated look at her young charge, she was surprised to have him suddenly reach over and force her down into her seat, shouting 'get DOWN-'

And the sky turned white.

Squinting her eyes shut instinctively at the flash which could only be from an N2 detonation, Misato grabbed Shinji right back and forced him down with her as low inside the car as possible. A deep rumble grew exponentially louder as the enormous shockwave from the fusion weapon blasted the top of the ridgeline they had just skirted around, stripping trees of their leaves, which rained down the far side as the thunder faded.

The two people inside the car listening to the shockwave fading quickly realized they were still alive and released their mutual grips in embarrassment as they sat up, the hellish red light reflected off the clouds fading as the fireball from the nuclear device ascended towards heaven.

"I'm uh sorry about grabbing you like that Captain Katsuragi" Shinji hastily apologized as he reseated himself.

"Oh that's fine" she smiled. "But don't start getting any ideas from that photo I sent you" she exhorted, leaning across abruptly into his personal space with a serious expression on her face. "Don't think that I intend to let you take advantage of me or anything like that!"

Flinching back in reflex with his face turning red, Shinji instinctively opened his mouth to apologize, paused, then closed it and laughed out loud, shaking his head and barely managing to get out "I'll try to behave myself before breaking out into even heavier laughter. He didn't have the first clue why he was laughing at first, until it hit him that he was just that happy to see Misato like this; carefree and laughing at life instead of (understandably) angry and bitter at it as she had been…towards the end.

Misato's angry façade dropped instantly as he laughed, joining in and tussling his spiky black hair a bit before sitting back down in her seat and kicking the car into gear as the cloud of dust thrown up by the shockwave started to settle.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Shinji Ikari" she declared, as she accelerated down the road.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Captain Katsaragi" Shinji replied with a small smile, pushing aside the memory of her bleeding to death in his arms out of his mind as he fingered the cross in his pocket.

_Not again_, _not this time_._ This time…this time it will be different. All of I will be different._

_I WILL _NOT_ RUN AWAY! NEVER AGAIN!_

"Ah, Mistao is fine" Misato shrugged casually as she threw her car around a corner at 'only' twice the posted speed limit.

_--Evangelion OST III, Track 04: Harbinger Of Tragedy--_

Back at Tokyo Three however, quite a few people were not feeling _quite _so carefree.

"What's the status of the target?" the first General demanded, staring at the multi story static filled screen as if daring it to give him bad news.

"We're unable to confirm" a technician tersely replied from deep in the pit, working to try and bring remote systems back on line. "The EM pulse knocked everything out".

"It MUST be dead" the second General broke in with greater insistence, as if by the force of his convictions his desired outcome would be made manifest.

Behind them, Gendo Ikari merely smiled behind the hands holding his head off his desk.

"External sensors…restored" Aoba declared several seconds later, the dead static filled screen switching to a wire frame sensor readout from the orbiting AWACS as Aoba managed to restore a direct linkup through the EM interference.

The image painted the terrain around the target zone in lines of green from an isometric angle. A hemispherical depression had been drawn in on this map, the detonation crater for the N2 mine…and in the middle of it, a line jumped up into the air, flashing wildly.

"Energy reading!" the sensor tech said in an alarmed voice. "At the epicenter!"

"It CAN'T BE!" the First General said in choked disbelief, all three leaping to their feet-

Just in time for a long range camera placed on a hilltop nearby to switch on, showing a long range zoom image of the explosion epicenter…and the Angel standing straight and tall in the middle of it.

"That…" the third General said heavily, sinking back into his chair, "was out last option".

"No effect at all" the most senior General said in a level, if tired sounding voice as he spoke up for first time, appearing to all but deflate back into his seat.

"It's a God damned Demon!" the first General snarled, hitting his poor unoffending table again, this time sending the cigarette butts flying off the edge.

* * *

A distant tunnel was coming into view now well along the winding road, one Shinji knew led to an outlying Car Train station, and in turn, down into the GeoFront.

Holding the cars satellite phone in one hand (which frightened him more then a little as it left her only a single hand to both steer AND change gears), Misato dialed up NERV HQ. A voice that sounded like Aboa came back over the speaker as Shinji cringed at every sloppy turn along the ridgeline road, thanking whatever deities that might be looking down on them today that there was no other traffic on the road.

"Yeah, so make sure you have a car train ready for us…an express of course…ya…okay, seya" she finished, before hanging up and turning to glance at her charge, who was looking out the window with a brooding expression on his face.

"So Shinji" she said "…how did you know to get us behind the hill when they dropped that N2 mine?"

Shinji kept his face level. Though Mistao's tone _sounded _almost 'airhead' level curious, he knew her far too well to fall for it, the edge of curiosity in her voice others might miss quite clear to him

"I saw all the aircraft that were attacking that thing suddenly break off as we were turning the corner" he shrugged, picking an easy lie out of his memory. "I mean, the only reason I could think of why they would do that, would be to drop a really big bomb, right?"

"Right" she agreed with a nod, her tone sounding satisfied, if slightly surprised with his answer. "You know, you're a pretty useful person to have around".  
"And you're uh, a damn pretty person to have around" he replied with a smile, causing her face to flush slightly red for a second before she laughed it off, surprised to find she was actually somewhat touched by the kids comment.

"You are nothing like your father" Misato chuckled, speeding down into the darkened tunnel entrance…though Shinji noted _this_ time she did so without pretending it was an exercise in downhill slalom practice.

Something for which he found himself profoundly grateful.

* * *

Three dozen kilometers behind the Third Child, a QV-22 Osprey slowly approached the stationary figure of the Angel in the still 'hot' blast zone. An unmanned drone version of the venerable V-22 transport, the QV-22 carried a full spectrum of sensors instead of troops; from basic visual, through most of the EM spectrum, even up to ultrasonic sonar, making it perhaps the most comprehensive remote sensor platform the UN Air Force boasted to date.

The data it collected was bounced up to the AWACS controlling it and from there to NERV central, where the triumvirate of Magi mainframes processed it. But most eyes were not on the incoming streams of information, but fixed firmly on the huge image projected in full color from the ultra high definition cameras on the twin bladed helicopter.

The Angel, everyone saw, _had_ been damaged by the nuclear explosion. The 'head' of the thing looked like it had been snapped in half, and was apparently in the process of being broken down and absorbed back into the greater whole, while a brand new head grew at a terrifying rate. Parts of the skin that had looked blistered and burned from were smoothing out and healing even as they watched, despite the fact that the ground under it was still in a semi molten state.

"As we suspected, it's regenerating itself" Fuyutsuki sighed. He would have been perfectly happy to simply see the Angel die from the UN's attack, but Ikari was (at least to someone who knew him as well as he did), all but gloating over the complete failure of the UN's most powerful weapon to do more then slow their enemy down for perhaps half an hour.

"Without that ability, it couldn't operate without support units" Gendo agreed, his eyes focused on the view screen upon which the 'new' head the Angel had grown appeared to swivel towards the cameras point of view. The secondary displays registered an energy surge-

And with a flash of light, the screen went back to static.

"Quite impressive" Fuyutsuki sighed. "It can upgrade its operational perimeters".

"And it's also getting smarter" Gendo added in a darker tone as the visual link was switched to a ground drone camera near the blast zone.

"It should renew its attack any minute now" Fuyutsuki agreed uneasily, wondering what in the hell Ikari planned to _do _about it. It was all well and good for the UN line forces and the JSSDF to make a fool of themselves dealing with the Angel, all the better to give NERV credence as the single authority on these matters.

But given that they had no pilot fit to use their single operational Evangelion unit, Fuyutsuki had no idea what NERV coulddo about it either…but suspected he would find out soon enough, as Ikari was grudgingly granted full authority by the Generals, who took their leave for the surface helipad where their evac VTOL, clearly not wanting to be around when the Angel shook off the nuclear impact and came looking for them.

* * *

The ride to the Geofront was unremarkable for Shinji Ikari, insomuch as he had made the trip hundreds of times before. He held his peace as Misato blabbed on about NERV and his father, handed him a lightly classified welcome booklet and clearly started brooding on her own problems as he flipped through it.

He made sure to show and express awe when they entered the Geofront, which was tricky as he tried to control the shudder that passed over him as his mind overlaid a massive hole in the roof on the incredible vista, with nine white winged figures descending like vultures towards an impaled scarlet Evangelion unit…

"Hey, we're here!" Misato suddenly said in a cheerful tone. Shinji looked up and blinked away his thoughts to realize they had arrived at the parking area for the senior staff while he had been 'reading', getting out of the car and stretching his legs as he grabbed his ID papers, following Misato into Central Dogma…where she instantly became utterly lost.

He of course, didn't try to correct her.

While Misato struggled to work out if she was holding the map right side up or upside down, Shinji snuck the white cross out of his pocket and carefully shoved it deep into his backpack, inside a folded spare shirt. He thought for a second about finding a waste chute to throw the thing into, to ensure no chance of awkward questions being raised, but he just couldn't thrown it away. Not after everything…

He would keep it.

To make sure he never forgot what running away cost him.

Finally they found an elevator in the Dogma Core and ascended, stopping a few floors up to let on Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, who had thrown a lab coast over a swimming costume and clearly did not look happy to be here. Shinji guessed she had just come down from the EVA cages and the emergency preparations to get Unit One ready to launch and started to lay into Misato even before the doors had shut again.

Suddenly, he realized the Doctor had noticed him staring and turned to face him after finishing growling at Misato for wasting her time, clearly irritated that Misato was clearly _not_ taking the implied threats even slightly seriously.

"So. Is this the boy?"

Before Mistao could respond, Shinji decided this time he would see about keeping the good_Doctor_ a little off balance this time.

"This is '_the boy'_, yes" he replied with a slight trace of sarcasm in his voice, trying not to dwell on memories of how she had treated him and the rest of the EVA pilots. "And _this_ is what the worlds leading scientists are wearing in the lab these days?"

Air whistled out through Misato's nostrils as her face turned red in a desperate attempt to contain the laughter that was trying to force its way out. Ritsukos face flushed slightly as well, but almost unwillingly, a slight smile made its way onto her face as for the first time, she really studied his face.

"You are not quite what I was expecting, Shinji Ikari".

"Then you were expecting my Father" he replied flatly, all good humor instantly gone from his face and voice, "which would be a mistake".

The Doctor shut up at this point, instead exchanging a look with Misato.

_Not at all what they were expecting_ the looks said.

Thankfully the rest of the trip through Central Dogma passed rapidly. A short stop into a locker room where Shinji was able to leave his bag while Misato and Doctor Akagi hurriedly changed into their uniforms, then a long trip up the side of the EVA cages, the two women arguing about the possibility of Unit-01 activating as Shinji continued to 'read' the NERV introduction manual. Finally they entered the dark 'room' that Shinji knew really was an umbilical bridge...

The light from the open door cut off, moving the room into pitch black and Shinji steadied himself.

The lights snapped on to full illumination.

And there was Evangelion Unit 01. Returning his stare calmly, directly in front of him.

A rush of memories flooded back into his mind as he looked over the purple helmet of the EVA with an almost detached calmness on his face that he didn't feel inside.

Silence reigned for several seconds as Misato and Akagi watched him closely before they realized he wasn't going to say anything.

"This is man's ultimate fighting machine" Akagi declared, with a touch of pride in her voice that rang through the huge room. "The synthetic life form known as Evangelion. Unit One".

Shinji's expression didn't change as he continued to study the purple face in front of him; its eyes appearing to return his level stare with its own…or_her _own.

"Built here in secret" Akagi continued her spiel, "it is mankind's last hope".

Shinji nodded slightly, making sure his expression was under tight control before raising his head.

"So" he said in a somewhat louder voice then was necessary to talk to the women beside him, before focusing his gaze on the silhouette of a man backed by lights far above him. "This is what you have been working on".

"Correct" Gendo Ikari replied. "It's been a while".

To Shinji's dark delight however, he could hear the slightest surprise and uncertainty in his Fathers cold voice, he knew his Father had wanted to surprise_him _by suddenly appearing at the most opportune moment, to intimidate him into a fearful cowering.

_Not _this_ time, _Father…

"It would have been far longer, if not for the fact that your brother convinced me to give you one last chance" Shinji replied in a voice just as devoid of emotion, keeping his expression locked on his fathers. "So far, you are failing miserably if you intended this to be any kind of happy family reunion".

Shinji sensed both of the women beside him cringe away from the frigid exchange, hugging themselves almost as if a cold wind had just swept into Central Dogma.

Gendo merely smirked slightly, surprised at the steel in his Son's voice.

_This promises to be more interesting then I anticipated _he thought, breaking eye contact to glance at Captain Katsuragi.

"We're moving out"

"Moving out?!" Mistao protested in an aghast voice, tearing her eyes from Shinji, who had returned to his study of Unit 01. "But Unit zero is still in cryo-stasis…" her voice suddenly broke off as she glanced at the silent Evangelion and her eyes went wide, turning to face Ritisiko. "WAIT a minute; you're going to use UNIT ONE?"

"There's no other way" Ritsuko said flatly.

"You're serious" Misato softly replied after studying her friends face for a second and recognizing the expression on it.

The Doctor didn't answer, turning instead to face Shinji, who had turned to look at her.

"Don't tell me" he pre-empted her. "You want me to pilot this thing".

Again Doctor Akagi blinked in surprise. Gendo had spoken little of his Son over the years, but from what she had heard and the brief skim reading she had done of his 'Marduk Institute' report, Shinji Ikari had been described as sorely lacking in self confidence, probably completely intimidated by his Father and more likely then not to simply follow instructions.

This boy however…

Her thoughtful study of the boy was however quickly cut short by Misato's indignant protesting.

"All he has to do is just sit in the seat" Akagi interrupted in a calm voice. "We're not expecting anything more then that".

Shinji glanced back up as his Father, who looked back in control of himself again, glaring down at the trio.

_Well time to throw him another curve ball _Shinji thought.

"Do you really think I'm just going to step into the thing? The thing that killed my Mother?" he asked in a level, but suddenly extremely dangerous tone.

Gendos eyes, for probably less then a millisecond, flashed in shock behind his glasses as Shinji's statement echoed around the EVA cage, orange suited technicians working to prepare the EVA for launch freezing in place as his statement reached them. Akagi's face went as white as Shinji remembered Rei's skin, while Misato simply looked confused for a second, before a dawning dread in her eyes started to build.

Shinji let the silence weight on everyone for several seconds before snorting slightly.

"Did you think I would, I _could_ forget that day, Father?" he asked in the same low soft tone. "Do you think I could forget _this_ thing?" he continued, gesturing at the inert EVA unit "and what it cost me?" Shinji felt his voice increasing in volume and pitch, but couldn't help it as emotions he had held in check for so long rushed to the surface in an uncontrolled eruption. "You might not have given a damn that my Mother, your wife, lost her life thanks to this thing, but _I DO_".

The last words, delivered with a great deal of volume, echoed through the deadly silence of the EVA cage, this time hanging in the air like a gunshot. Silently, Shinji cursed his explosion, but felt a curious weight lift off his shoulders, one he hadn't realized he had been carrying all this time, letting him stand up just that much straighter.

"Battle Stations" a voice broke in on the heavy silence, one Shinji recognized as Maya Ibuki, almost certainly up in the control room. "Level One, prepare for Surface to Surface Combat".

The various technicians around the room got back to work, hurriedly finding things to do as they tried to ignore the drama playing out in the middle of the huge room.

"Fine" Gendo said softly, though Shinji could hear the extreme control in his voice as he glared from his room and for a second felt a slight wave of remorse for his words. Shinji knew, deep down, just how dedicated his Father had been to his Mother. Almost everything he had done since that horrible day had been, at least in his twisted mind, for her after all.

Regardless of what it had cost anyone else around him.

But mostly, he could only remember how he had sacrificed Rei, Askua, Misato and God only knows how many other people at NERV, hell the whole human race once you got down to it, all to sooth his guilty conscience and inability to accept Yui's own wishes.

_Not this time_ Shinji thought as Gendo turned away.

"Fuyutsuki" Gendo snapped at thin air, finding a new target.

"Sir?"

"Wake up Rei" he said curtly.

"…Can we _use_ her?"

"She's not dead yet" Gendo replied, with a dark undertone in his voice.

"Understood" came the tight reply back.

_You son of a bitch_ Shinji thought with a grinding of his teeth, knowing what was coming next.

Akagi and Misato, both clearly glad to exit the crossfire between Father and Son retreated to the edges of the bridge, the former starting to order technicians about, the later standing alone with her thoughts as she mulled over the incredible revelation that had just echoed around the EVA cage.

_--Evangelion OST, Track 04: Rei I--_

A soft _ping_ announced the arrival of an elevator and Shinji's anger drained away as he turned, looking past Doctor Akagi as a team of medical techs hurriedly wheeled out a gurney and carefully maneuvered it across the bridge towards him.

Time appeared to slow down as the bed approached, then stopped as it pulled level with him, and he looked Rei Ayanami in the face.

Her expression was utterly blank, just as he remembered, though twinges of pain caused her to grimace as the bed bounced over the not very smooth bridge. One eye was bandaged, as were here arms, with IV lines leading into her…

"Wait" Shinji said softly to the medics, who glanced at each other, but halted the bed carefully. Walking up next to the head of the bed as Rei weakly tried to sit up; he leaned in close and gently put a hand on her shoulder as she whimpered in agony.

"It's okay Ayanami" he whispered softly to the Girl who had given him this chance. "Just…rest."

Rei's single uncovered eye finally focused on him, without comprehension, but she allowed him to guide her back to lie down, shuddering slightly even from that much effort. Looking past her, he straightened and found Misato looking very closely at him.

"Misato".

"Yes Shinji?"

"Can you please see that gets back to the hospital for me?"

Misato glanced up towards the window where his Father laired and apparently getting an affirmative, she looked back and offered him a trusting smile.

"Of course Shinji-Kun" she said, walking forward.

Stepping away from the bed as the Medics started to head back the way they came -Misato following close behind- Shinji looked up with an unreadable expression at his Father.

"Alright. I'll do it".

* * *

With the familiar feeling of vertigo, Shinji felt the entry plug tilt forward, as the docking system locked the long cylinder into place at the base of Unit Ones neck. The freely rotating internal section remained level as the plug screwed its way deep into Unit 01, then with a deep thud, the armor plates behind him sealed up and over, entombing him.

There was the usual chatter on the communications lines as the control room prepared to synchronize, followed by the rush of LCL inside.

"Hey what? What in the-" he spluttered as the liquid rushed up, holding his breath as Ritisiko assured him it was all fine. He held his breath for a three second count before explosively expelling all the air from his lungs and deeply 'breathing' in the LCL.

When he had first started to pilot his EVA, he had always tried to slowly control himself as he breathed in the LCL into his lungs and had come close to throwing up each and every time. It had been Askua who suggested that he should try to breath it all in, in a single deep breath…and he had to admit, it made him less likely to throw up.

On the other hand…

"I think I'm going to be sick" Shinji muttered, his mind flashing back to a disturbing image of an enormous Sea of LCL that had somehow been burned into the depths of his mind…

"Stop complaining! You're a boy you know" Misato's voice cracked over the intercom, causing Shinji to smile wryly.

"Connecting secondary contacts" Maya said next and the rainbow cascade of color washed down the interior of the entry plug as the display screens initialized. The familiar, curious feeling that he was melting into something infinitely larger and more powerful then moved through him, followed by the screens activating to a perfect wraparound view of the area around Unit 01. Closing his eyes, he felt the tug of a connection from the EVA as the A-10 clips in his hair pulsed followed by the tingling sensation of the LCL charging.

"Bi-Directional circuits are open" Maya Ibuki commented a few hundred meters away in the main command centre as the personnel hurriedly rushed to get Unit 01 through an abbreviated launch checklist. Checking that step off her own list, she switched over to a pilots status window and started to flick through the various readouts.

"Synchronization ratio at…forty three point one percent" she blinked in astonishment. That someone who had never even SEEN an EVA could get such a high ratio on the first attempt was beyond any previous experience…but the MAGI didn't lie.

"Amazing" Ritsuko breathed over her shoulder as the waveforms on the screen merged into one line, before Maya switched over to a nerve connection window.

"Harmonics…appear to be normal. No abnormalities detected".

"Hmmm" Ritisiko agreed in satisfaction. Glancing back at Mistao. "Let's do it!"

Misato nodded, and then felt the ground heave under her as an explosion ripped through the city.

"It's close" Commander Ikari muttered from his place at the top of the room, his face once again a blank slate as he gazed at the main screen, showing a huge cross shaped explosion tearing into the night sky above Tokyo 3. "It must sense our presence".

Hurriedly, Mistao turned to Hugya and Aboa at the primary operational consoles in front of her.

"Begin launch sequence!"

"Begin launch sequence!" the Aboa repeated as another explosion rocked the base, rapidly firing out orders to move the Evangelion to launch position.

"Hit on the first armor plate confirmed!" Hugya declared as damage alarms sounded. "No penetration as yet". On the screen, Satchiel, apparently irritated at his lack of progress started to stalk down from the hill from which he had been bombarding the town, firing one last blast in passing.

This blast hit one of Tokyo 3's retracted skyscrapers dead on and blew straight down its unarmored length into the Geofront, an unholy inverted cross materializing over the subterranean cavern, causing the hulled building to freefall down and slam into the ground next to NERV HQ and shake the building to its foundations.

The operations personnel however continued the cycle without breaking stride.

"All restraints clear, internal batteries fully charged" Aboa finished up his checklist rapidly, giving a thumbs up across to Ibuki. Maya nodded in return and flicked her fingers across her keyboard.

"Roger. Moving EVA unit One to the launch pad" she stated, watching as the hydraulic lift started to raise the EVA towards the wall mounted launch catapults. Then as the charging status indicator for the magnetic induction system reached 100, Maya armed the system, causing a series of blast doors through the launch path to snap open in sequence.

"Launch path clear, all systems green".

"Evangelion, ready for launch" Akagi confirmed, nodding at Misato.

"Understood" Misato replied simply, before turning back to face Commander Ikari with a direct look, her mind still reeling over the revelations of a few minutes ago.

"Can we really do this?" she asked with an almost pleading tone in her voice at the thought of sending an untrained kid up to face the greatest enemy known to Man.

"Of course" Gendo replied, as if she had asked if he would be happy to pack a light supper after the battle. "Unless we defeat the Angels, humanity _has_no future".

Not exactly sure if that was a good enough answer, Misato none the less turned back to face the main screen, keeping her thoughts to herself.

Fuyutsuki, standing beside the Commander however, leaned in close.

"Ikari. Are you_absoloutly _sure about this?" he asked.

Gendo didn't reply, simply grinning at the screen and if he had been going to say anything, it was made accedemic as Misato stepped forward.

"EVA LAUNCH!"

With a flash of energy, energy discharged, magnetizing the track and launch carriage Unit 01 was attached to, sending the gargantuan purple figure roaring towards the surface in a blur of motion.

Inside the entry plug, the launch force kicked him with its usual crushing pressure until the acceleration tapered off, Shinji's eyes squinting shut in reflex from the G forces as his mulled over what he remembered about this Angel.

Of course he hadn't defeated the Angel himself, the thing had broken his arm then blown a hole in his head, causing the Unit…causing her to go berserk and tear the Angel to bits, piece by piece.

He supposed he could simply wait for that to happen…

_And watch as Toji's sister gets horrifically hurt_…

Blood drained from Shinji's face as _everything_ that had led from this battle, like a ripple in a pond, crashed back into his awareness-

("The Eva's re-activating!")-

(Unit One screaming in rage as it smashed the beleaguered Angel through building after building)-

("Sorry, his little sister was injured in the incident the other day")-

("You're Toji Suzuhara?")

("Getting his sister transferred to our hospital here at Headquarters

was the one condition he gave")-

("You still don't know?! The pilot of Unit 03 is")-

("Father, stop! Stop doing this!")-

("I begged him to stop")-

("The Fourth Child is…is…")-

_NO!_

_--Evangelion OST I, Track 18: The Beast--_

Unit Ones eyes suddenly lit up with an unholy white blaze, seconds from the top of the lift shaft and only a few blocks away from the Third Angel, which was striding jauntily through Tokyo 3 like some gigantic late night shopper.

Deep in the control room, pandemonium erupted.

"My God, Shinji's Synch ratio just spiked to ninety four point three two-"

"Unit One has disengaged final restraints manually-"

"AT Field generation detected-"

Hugya, Aboa and Maya's voices overlapped simultaneously, followed by a simultaneous shout of "_What?!" _from Ritsuko, Misato and Fuyutsuki as Unit One reached the surface. Instead of crashing to a halt in the restraint lock as had been planned, mankind's ultimate weapon leaped into the twilight, using the momentum from the lift to fly an arc, its cable unwinding furiously behind it as it flew in a blur up and across the street, then countless thousands of tons of cyborg crashed down onto its prey, the air around it burning with a familiar hexagonal strobing as it landed.

"Unit One's AT field is in contact with the Angels" Maya hurriedly commented in triumph as a wavy pair of line graphs on her screen appeared to cancel out, a pair of numbers rapidly dropping to zero. "It's neutralizing the phase space!"

"No, its _eroding_it" Ritsuko corrected in a stunned voice as the Angel recovered from the ferocious all out attack and sudden loss of its Absolute Terror field, whipping its hands up to try and throw Unit One off with its phenomenal strength.

Shinji however, the focus of a tempest, but one of his control, wasn't having any of that. The hands of Unit 01 moved in a blur, seizing the Angels long limbs by its wrists, then pulled them across its chest so each hand could grip BOTH limbs at once, all but ignoring its struggles as he squeezed…until with a crack and spurting of blue blood, limbs detached, leaving nothing but tiny stumps.

"We've done it" Fuyutsuki said simply to Gendo, who inclined his head in agreement.

Sachiel, despite the horrific pain it probably was feeling, probably wanted to dispute such a claim, leveraging up from its position flat on its back to direct its head at Unit 01 as Shinji disposed of the arms, firing a point blank blast at the Evangelions head, which soared up into the sky in yet another white/purple crucifix, causing Unit 01 to stumble back down the street several dozen meters.

As Sachiel heaved itself to its feet, Shinji growled, shaking off the sympathetic feeling of his face suddenly feeling like it was sunburned, his hands tightening up on the butterfly grips.

Unit Ones right hand flashed to its shoulder pauldron which opened just in time for the hand to yank out a solid looking rectangular object, the Progressive Knife coming joyously to life with a load roar.

Shinji had never been the best hand to hand trained EVA pilot at NERV. That honor had gone to Askua, who had always, by far, held the most complete EVA training of the pilots stationed at Tokyo 3. Although Shinji had scored some of his most memorable victories against Angels by ripping them to pieces, that had generally happened when Unit One was completely out of his control and he had always been more comfortable with the heavy artillery.

But he had picked up more then one trick from the Second Child during those long hours of training.

Ducking under the still staggering Angels line of fire, Shinji on pure instinct exploded up with a twin fingered knuckle jab into the Angels face that snapped the beak around. Then holding his blade reverse style like Askua had taught him, brought the Progressive knife in with the classic 'Z-stroke' across the face from left to right, back down to the Angels left chest-

Then stabbed it sideways into the core as hard as he could.

_DIE_ his mind shrieked at the monster that had caused so much suffering. _Just DIE!_

The Angel withered violently as the progressive edge sliced through the sphere on its chest, bucking like a dying animal as Shinji pressed it the hilt, snarling incomprehensible mutterings until its gyrations suddenly slowed and it fell off the blade onto the ground, its skin appearing to suddenly break out in huge bubbles all over its body.

Giving the creature not even another seconds attention, Shinji leaped over it, its power cable detaching at a thought with a hiss as he sprinted to the end of the block where he could make out a terrified pair of familiar people in the shadow of an apartment block. His AT field spread wide behind him with a deep humming roar-

Then a final Crucifix lit the Tokyo 3 sky, this one visible for hundreds of kilometers.

The explosion slammed against the hexagonal barrier, but the Angels final revenge was thwarted as it held firm, the light fading to leave an impossibly perfect crater in the center of the street.

Then the blaze in Unit 01's eyes faded and almost gently, it fell to its knees and powered down.

"The target…the target has been destroyed" Hugya said into the stunned silence of the operations centre as the rumble of the explosion overhead finally ceased, leaving everyone staring in open mouthed awe at the all but untouched Evangelion lying in the street.

"Stand down to second stage Alert" Misato ordered, hurrying forward to the microphone on Hugya's console. "Scramble tactical recovery teams now, DO IT!"

"Roger" Maya and Aboa simultaneously acknowledged, contacting their respective personnel and ordering them to Unit Ones position as Misato reached the Microphone.

"Shinji, Shinji are you okay?"

Up in Unit One, Shinji slowly let out the 'breath' of LCL he had been holding, closing his eyes for a second as suddenly the rage that had powered him faded, leaving him shaken…and surprisingly, shak_ing_.

"I'm…I'm here…what happened?" he replied, realizing that he didn't need much effort at all to sound vague and confused.

"Its okay" Misato assured him over the comlink. "We'll have you out of there in a couple of minutes…Shinji, Shinji you did great out there, its all over".

_No Misato _Shinji thought as he leaned back to rest in his command chair, closing his eyes as he listened to the soothing hum of the entry plugs life support systems.

_This has just begun_.

It probably would have worried him to know his Father was thinking much the same of the Captain's statement as he gave the main screen a smirk, before turning and walking out of the command centre.

The Committee was no doubt waiting


	4. Unfamiliar ceiling

The first thought that came to Shinji Ikari's mind, in that moment of twilight between sleep and consciousness was that everything had simply been a dream.

It was a perfectly justifiable reaction, he decided, after due thought.

The idea that he had been put in control of forces beyond the comprehension of human beings and essentially pressed a gigantic reset button on the universe was appealing in a lot of ways that would make _sense _for a dream.  
But as he blinked his eyes and breathed in deeply, sitting up on the bed and taking in the room around him…a fact that his mind had been trying to tell him for several seconds finally imposed itself on his consciousness.

_This is _not_ my room_.

Shinji felt a somewhat pleasant surprise that he wasn't instantly reduced to a state of near panic over waking up in a room he couldn't recall _arriving_ in. He idly wondered if his mind had simply decided, after the psychic rock concert that had been Third Impact, that from now on, nothing so blasé as waking up in a strange room would ever worry him again, but decided it was more likely that a part of his mind _did _know he wasn't in any danger and _did _know how he had gotten here.

Closing his eyes tightly, he thought back to the last thing he remembered which was…sitting in Unit Ones entry plug.

Ah. _Now_ it was coming back.

The TacOps teams arriving to eject the entry plug and help him out, followed by heavy recovery units trundling downtown to grab Unit One and move it back to a launch building for recovery.  
His overwhelming relief in catching a glimpse of a medical team with Toji and his sister in the distance, both of them looking shaken but untouched as they walked into an ambulance, Toji's arm protectively around his sibling.  
The standing ovation from Misato and quite a few of the senior NERV personnel as he had stepped out of an unmarked van deep inside the GeoFront (the Commander and Vice Commander noticeably absent from the crowd), his clothes still damp with LCL.  
Heading back to the locker room with Misato and trying not to blush, but unable to help smiling back at the constant euphoric grins, cheers and thumbs up's flashed to him by NERV personnel he walked past.  
The wonderful, blisteringly hot shower to clear the LCL out of his hair, at the same time as it washed away the tension from his body for a time, letting his mind drift as images from the past (or was it his future now?) swirled around in the steam...  
Getting out of the shower and into the one change of clothes in his bag, double and then triple checking the necklace-

Shinji's eyes opened wide as his thought process crashed to a halt, swinging out of bed to crouch beside its head, digging under the cheap Government Issue mattress as his hands searched for- then found- a rolled up piece of clothing, which he opened carefully to revel a white cross, splashed with a dark red stain that looked almost black in the low light of the room.

Rocking back off the balls of his feet to sit on the edge of the bed, Shinji exhaled in a long sigh as he started to think. Misato's necklace was increasingly becoming an anchor for his sanity; both letting him know that this really _was _happening…and acting as a constant, silent, rebuke to him of how much damage his inaction and self pity had caused. Letting his fingers idly trace their way around the edge before wrapping it back up, he stood up as he made a quick decision, grabbing his backpack from the floor and starting to rummage through it. He needed to keep this necklace, the one piece of physical proof he had of what was to come…but he needed to find some place safe to store it, before someone stumbled over it and started asking questions he couldn't easily answer.

Quickly, he stripped out of his pajamas and changed into his remaining unspoiled clothes, slipping into his shoes (which had had thankfully remembered to remove before getting into the entry plug this time). He studied his reflection in a cheap mirror on the wall quickly; arranging his hair at least into a state of partial neatness before walking over to the single window in the room and opening a hole in the venetian blinds to peak through.  
He quickly placed his position; he was in a room inside NERV's main Pyramid headquarters, overlooking the inverted pyramid "pool" in front of the building, a fact confirmed with a glance at a 'sky' showing dozens of inverted buildings suspended far above him. He vaguely recalled that these rooms were set aside for NERV personnel who didn't want to live upstairs in Tokyo Three -though it had turned out very few people really wanted to live a life underground- which in turn meant he was probably in a rather empty building.

At least for now.

Glancing at his watch to check the time –_perfect, just after five in the morning- _he walked back and gathered his wallet and the temporary NERV ID papers his Father had sent him, shoving them into the pockets of his pants. He took far more care though as he wrapped the Necklace back into its handkerchief, easing it into his shirts breast pocket before pulling a light vest over his shirt to ward off the chill he expected to find on the surface. Shinji debated taking his backpack with him, but ultimately decided against it. He wasn't going to _leave_ after all and if he wasmissed, the fact that he had left so much of his stuff behind in a cluttered state would probably help assure people he _did_ intend to come back soon.  
Walking to the door, he listened carefully for some time, straining to pick out any sound of human activity, but he couldn't hear anything above the low humming of the air conditioning, so he eased it open a crack.

There was no section 2 agent standing outside, which was a good start.

He opened the door wider and stuck his head out to have a look up and down the corridor…and there was Misato; sprawled into a padded lounge chair about ten meters away, snoring with impressive volume.  
A smile twitched onto his face as he realized she had stayed here to watch over him all night. He knew she had probably been up for hours longer then he had been, dealing with the aftermath of the Angels attack and he felt emotion well up inside him at the fact that instead of going home to a comfortable bed, she had come back here to watch over him.  
A boy she had only just met.  
Fighting to urge to walk over and hug her, he gently closed the door behind him and quietly walked down the corridor and around the corner, then through a set of doors to a staircase which led him deeper into central Dogma.

He didn't hold any illusions that he could simply vanish out of NERV, he knew the MAGI kept tabs on _everyone_ through the bases internal security cameras twenty four hours a day. But he also guessed that none of the senior staff who might actually care where he was would be awake, or if they were up, wouldn't be thinking about him at five in the morning.

He wasn't however, entirely correct.

Doctor Akagi sighed as she leaned back, lifting her glasses and rubbing her eyes to try and eliminate the ache that had been building steadily behind her eyes over the last half an hour.  
She _had_ managed to some sleep last night. Her scientific staff was not really needed in the post battle cleanup so she had sent them all home -they were going to have a _very_ long day today- as she needed them on the top of their game. She herself had eventually followed her own advice, napping on a sofa bed in her office fitfully for a few hours at a time until she finally gave up and went back to work.  
Albeit with a large dose of coffee.  
The combat between the Third Angel and Unit One had been quite spectacular, but unlike Misato and most of the operations staff, she was far from surprised that it had been a victory for NERV. The plan developed by the Commander had in fact hinged around placing Shinji inside Unit One to provoke the unit -well more accurately the soul of his mother buried deep within it- to take steps when he was put into mortal danger.  
Gendo and Fuyutsuki had smugly gone to talk to the Committee, both convinced their plan had gone perfectly. And her first impression had been one of agreement with them. The sudden spike in Shinji's Synch ratio as Unit One had reached the surface, followed by it launching into a ferocious attack all spoke to Yui 'taking steps' to protect her Son and reaching out to his distress at some level…  
But Ritsuko Akagi was, above all, a scientist. She hypothesized, made observations, revised her theories as needed based on them and then drew conclusions from her data.  
And right now, there were several observations that worked away at the edges of her initial conclusions, nagging at her thoughts like her mother had, during her education.

_First. Unit One had gone 'berserk' _before_ it had been attacked. _

_Second. Unit One had activated its progressive knife and used it very effectively in close range combat, rather then simply ripping the target to pieces with its bare hands as she would have expected._

_Third. The expected synchronization issues such as neural pulses flowing backwards from the EVA to the pilot, possible mental contamination issues and so on…had not materialized._

Of course, easy answers existed for any one of these questions.

_The Unit had sensed the Angel and responded accordingly, nothing _said_ the Angel had needed to make the first move. Unit Zero had gone berserk the _instant_ the activation had cleared the absolute border line after all, without _any _external stimuli._

_Further, nothing said the Unit would be unaware of its abilities or its inbuilt weapons…especially given that Yui _had_ helped design the Unit._

_And finally…well the third issue was harder to work out but it was only a _possibility_ that the Neural Interface would have problems. _

_The fact that the Synch Ratio had skyrocketed, then the Unit had gone on an all out offensive, followed by the ratio had crashing back down once the target was eliminated was really all the proof she needed_ Akagi decided, twirling a pen in her fingers as the combat footage looped yet again. _It's not like Shinji had been trained in its use or…_

Wait…

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she viewed the replayed combat from another Camera angle. Something about the way Unit One had torn into the Angel…  
She let it loop again.  
And again.  
And again.  
And again.  
Probably five minutes passed before her mind finally made the connection in its sluggish state.  
Keying the video replay to memory, she swung around to another computer at her desk and patched into the NERV Wide Area Intranet, requesting a secure link to the second branch in Germany, trying to wait patiently as the approval dance was performed and text scrolled down the monitor.

Connecting to 88.70.15.221…  
Connection Established  
Secure Terminal Shell V 6  
Revision Beta 2014

Encryption Established.

Welcome Back Doctor Akagi.  
It has been 63 days since your last connection.  
The current system time is 10:32 PM local.

JOHANN

Akagi raised her eyebrows as the prompt finally came up. While her Mother had -for whatever reason- named the Tokyo-3 prototype computers after the 'three wise men' in Christian mythology (a trend which had been continued in the US and at Japans nearby Matsushiro facilities), the Second Branch had named their computers "Ludwig", "Johann" and "Richard" after famous German composers. Akagi didn't see why they had decided to break the trend with the German set of supercomputers, but as the daughter didn't understand why her Mother had chosen English names from Christian mythology for the originals either, she decided she didn't really care either. With a few keystrokes, she found the files she sought then transferred them across to her own database via the dedicated high capacity lines that linked all five of the MAGI systems. Loading the files -footage of the Second Childs combat training- she quickly filtered down the archives to a half dozen recent examples; progressive knife training in hand to hand combat, then started to play them one by one, finding nothing of interest in the first few videos before she slowly straightened up in her chair. She watched as Unit Two leaped into close range against a vaguely humanoid, EVA-like target, Askua's confident taunting overlaying the sound feed. The Second Child danced around for a while, dodging the attacks of its enemy as it flailed at her, then she feinted and leapt in close, stunned the "Angel" with a quick jab to the head and in a blur of motion sliced its torso up before digging her knife deep into its core.  
Stopping the playback, Ritsuko rewound twenty seconds and cut the speed by ten percent, then played the video again.  
Then she rewound it and cut the speed by fifty percent.  
Now in slow motion, Askua clobbered the 'head' of the target with a slow motion jab while bringing her knife up with her other hand with the blade reversed, slicing it across from left to right, down and to the left of its torso, then with her entire 'bodyweight' behind it she reversed the blade with a deft flick to a stabbing posture, brought it back across and into the core.

Well wasn't _that_ interesting?

From a strictly scientific point of view of course, with such a small sample size, there wasn't anything of real factual interest here; it was just an interesting observation without any theories or conclusions to be made.  
Yet.  
Shutting down her laptop, she turned back to her main terminal and moved her thoughts to the back of her mind. She had more then enough work already without chasing down probable irrelevancies like this.

The Escalator appeared to reach to infinity.

But it really didn't.

In actual fact it only went across a ground distance of roughly two hundred meters and a vertical distance of one hundred and fifty, though it was still enough to give anyone who suffered from vertigo nightmares, reaching from the ground of the Geofront up to a small landing in the side of the huge oval shaped hemisphere, a bank of elevators in turn then shuttling people straight up as the Geofront curved away into the distance.

It had taken him about half an hour to make the trip through Central Dogma. He congratulated himself for retaining enough sense to stop to look at the public maps at major 'crossroads', take a couple of wrong turns forcing him to double back and so on, deciding if someone did go looking for him using the surveillance records, it would probably look highly suspect if he found his way out of the Geofront without getting at least a LITTLE lost. All the while he forced himself to stay calm, increasingly expecting to come around a corner to find NERV security officers looking for him, but he had managed to calm himself down for a while, before his mind started creating ever more wonderful scenarios; from Section 2 dragging him to see his Father and forcing him to confess everything to him being conveniently 'nudged' down one of the bottomless shafts towards Terminal Dogma…

None the less, he reached the landing to the 'public' front door to NERV without incident and seeing scant few people for that matter; those on duty were probably still busy cleaning up the mess he and the Angel had made of parts of the city, so he stepped unnoticed into a waiting Elevator and pressed the button for the surface.

The tiny box steadily climbed up the shaft with only the ticking of the level counters to keep him company, the Third Child growing increasingly sure that it would open at the surface to show security personnel ready to "escort" him back downstairs…

But rather anti climatically, the doors opened into a small NERV access building in downtown Tokyo Three without anyone in sight.

Getting out past the guards on duty at the NERV HQ access point was remarkably easy; understandably they were more concerned with stopping unauthorized people getting _in _to NERV HQ during an alert then people getting out. One guard did stop him just as he was about to leave, but a quick look at his temporary ID papers signed by Gendi Ikari himself quickly had the poor mans face going white, thrusting the papers back and insisting he should be on his way, opening the gates to let him out personally. As the door closed behind him and he stepped into the early morning twilight, he let the cool but not cold breeze drain his tension away as he soaked up the early morning twilight.

_Alright_ he thought to himself. Now_ what?_  
Well he had to find somewhere safe to hide the necklace for a start. Somewhere no-one would look for it or find it…but somewhere it would be safe.  
Turning and walking to put some distance between NERV and himself, he started to think about possible locations.  
Somewhere near Mistato's apartment? Convenient, but nowhere around there jumped out at as a good idea…and he would have a hard time explaining _why_ he was there if caught.  
Somewhere back down in the Geofront? Too closely watched.  
Back at his Uncles? Too far away to get there and back, even assuming the trains were running…and he had a feeling if he did go back to his Uncles, he would never leave there again.  
And he was through with running away.  
None of his friends from School even _knew_ him yet, so they couldn't hide it for him…assuming they would still BE his friends this time.

That thought tore a sigh from his lips as he turned onto a main street, noting the early morning traffic, even after a gigantic battle, was starting to fill up the intersections.

The thought that he might not become friends with Toji and Kensuke was surprisingly painful, but the pain faded as he forcefully told himself that if _that _was the price he paid for keeping Toji's sister safe and her brother the hell away from Unit Three, it was one he was more then willing to make. _And who knows_ he thought with a wry smile as he crossed an escalator bridge over the main road, _perhaps we'll still be great friends…but we can go straight to the friendship without Toji needing to bust my skull open this time_.

His smile faded as he moved into heavier pedestrian traffic, realizing that he still didn't have any solution to his problem. He needed to bury this evidence deep, somewhere that no-one, not SEELE, not his Father, would ever think to dig-

He stopped dead in his tracks at _that _thought, causing a hurrying middle aged business manager behind him to stumble into, then around him with a muttered curse. Looking around quickly, Shinji spotted a 24 hour convenience store just down the road and hurried in, selecting a few small items and standing in line, looking slightly out of place with the business suited executives holding their extra large coffees, but no-one appeared to give him so much as a second glance as he handed over some of the money his uncle had given him, then exited and quickly flagged over a taxi which he directed towards the Western edge of Tokyo 3.

Rei Ayanami was lying in bed.

It was something she had been doing a great deal of lately.

Whereas another patient would probably have gone mad from boredom in a matter of hours, Rei Ayanami simply existed, neither caring about nor wishing for a quick end to her situation.  
It wasn't so much that she was a person of patience; it was just that she did not _know_ what it meant to enjoy life, thus she didn't _miss_ things like entertainment, social interaction or any of the other stimuli a human being might yearn for. There was a TV inactive in her room whose function she was aware of but considered irrelevant. Her Laptop computer was sitting on a table next to her bed but as she had no work related reason to use it, it remained powered down.

Her purpose was to pilot Unit Zero. This she knew.

She had been injured in an attempt to pilot Unit Zero. This she remembered.

She would recover. This she had been assured of.

Thus, she would pilot again when her body had mended. And at that time, she would be required to do something other then wait.

Today however Rei's mind was unusually active. To most people, her face would appear to be its usual blank self, utterly devoid of anything resembling thought. However if one of the handful of people able to read Rei's face with some degree of accuracy had chanced upon the young adolescent at this moment, they might have noticed the subtle, almost trivial expression on her face as Rei's thoughts focused inward.

_This boy_ she wondered to herself. _He is…familiar but not familiar_.

The strange look on his face she did not understand…as he had gently pushed her back down into her bed, causing the pain that had been searing through her body from her attempts to stand to fade away

_He chose to pilot Unit One instead of letting me pilot it. _

_Am I therefore redundant_? _Is that my concern?_

_No, he cannot pilot both Unit One and Unit Zero. I will still be needed._

_But why do I feel this feeling? He stopped me from piloting Unit One after he had been unwilling to do so, when he saw me. Why? Was this anger on his face? Was it sadness? Or was it compassion? I do not understand…_

Rei could not deny she had felt…something pass between them; something she had never felt before in that fleeting instant their eyes had locked.

If she had been asked to put it into words, she would have said it had almost been as if this strange child had _known_ her. Almost as if he somehow looked deep into her soul, then after this examination, he had decided to take up the duty he had initially denied…for_ her_ sake, not his…

Rei's thoughts however, were cut short as the door to her small hospital room opened. Turning with only slight twinges of pain in her neck, she saw Commander Ikari enter, silhouetted by the bright light from outside as he strode to her and gripped the rail around her bed, offering a slight smile from behind his dark orange glasses.

"Rei" he said without preamble.  
"Sir" she responded with just as little tone her in voice.  
"Are you feeling better?"

It was strange for the Commander to inquire about her health. But given that the Angels had finally returned, he probably had understandable concerns about getting his pilots on duty quickly.

"My treatment continues on schedule" she replied. "I am expected to be cleared for piloting within thirty days and out of the hospital in fifteen".  
"Excellent" Gendo nodded, his attention appearing to trail off for a few seconds before he focused his attention back to her, his face back to its usual stoic self. "For now, at least, it appears our spare pilot is quite functional so there should be no need to risk your recovery profile again".  
"Understood" Rei replied…then hesitated slightly. "If I may ask…"  
"Yes?"  
"Who is he?"

Gendo's jaw twitched ever so slightly at her question, clearly knowing exactly who the 'he' she was referring to was. It was not something most people would notice, but Rei was not 'most people'.

"He is the Third Child" Gendo said succinctly, his tone indicating an end to the conversation. Rei simply nodded in acknowledgement and exchanged a few more questions and answers with the Commander before he took his leave, apparently satisfied.

Although Gendo didn't know it, he had just made a mistake.  
Rei now knew curiosity.  
She now had something -besides waiting for her injuries to heal- to do.  
She was going to find out about this Third Child…

The Taxi turned off the highway above Tokyo 3 and past an intricately carved wooden sign, tall and thin with Japanese characters running down its length. The side road was narrow but well maintained, climbing up over the last rise of a hill and gently down the far side towards a massive circular depression of brown ground. Shinji exited the vehicle as it reached the parking area at the end of the road, paying the driver from of his dwindling supply of Yen, then stepping back as the the driver deftly swung his vehicle around and scooted back up the road.

Leaving him alone overlooking Tokyo 3 Cemetery Number One.

Shinji slowly made his way down several flights of stairs lined by dozens of cherry blossoms on the reverse side of the hill, passing through a beautifully hand carved Torii gateway as he stepped down onto the brown soil of the 'crater'. A chill froze his spine despite the rising sun on the horizon as he looked over the rows of mass graves, the ultimate result of the Second Impact instigated by SEELE.

Death. Not Rebirth. A monument to half of mankind in their insanity

Breathing deeply to steady his nerves as he walked with only the whisper of the wind keeping him company, he cut across and down a footpath to an inner row by memory, stopping in front one of the thousands of markers, falling gently to his knees in front of it, his mind reeling as he gazed upon the simple inscription.

**Ikari, Yui.**

**1977 - 2004**

Taking a deep breath, Shinji dropped to his knees at the foot of his Mothers 'grave', wincing slightly at the dampness of the Earth through his trouser legs, something almost but not quite a bleak smile coming onto his face as he looked around to make sure he was alone, but he saw no-one.

Cemeteries were probably not the most popular places to visit at dawn after a gigantic robot fight...and they still took a dim view of people tampering with graves.

"I…I know now that you're not dead" he started lamely, wincing at the awkwardness and his choice of words almost as soon as he said them. "I think...I _know_ now you made a choice…to go inside Unit One" Shinij continued, his eyes flicking down to the ground in front of the simple marker, his expression mutating into something of a more genuine smile. "But if I went down and started talking to Unit One and calling it 'Mother'… I think half of NERV would think I was crazy and want to lock me up…and the other half would know I _wasn't_ and also want to lock me up".  
Sighing, he crossed his legs and leaned forward, taking out his few purchases from the convenience store, a couple of stout plastic bags and a small container. Removing the cross carefully from his pocket, he touched it one last time, then placed it in the bag and sealed it, in turn placing the bag into the airtight container and went to work, digging a shallow depression that would hold the package, before covering with dirt and hiding his handywork.

As he dug however, he talked, as much to himself as to the spirit of his Mother…wherever she was. He talked about everything that had happened, everything that had led him to where he was now. His desperation and panic to try and get any kind of response out of the catatonic Askua…his loathing over how he had used her in his depression…the mixture of utter terror and utter apathy as the JSSDF stormed NERV…the complete breakdown as Mistao, dying, had thrown him into the lift and sent him down…the overload of emotions as Third Impact had started…and finally the revelation that he was back where everything had started, as he finished his 'gardening' work.

"It's just…so much has happened…and so much is going to happen. I'm…scared" he admitted to the stone in a choked voice, fighting back the tears that threatened to come flooding out for a few seconds before he broke down and everything come pouring out. How long he sat there, he didn't know, the tempest of emotions, of regrets, of anger, of insanity that had built up in him for weeks finally came loose and poured out in a storm of crying, screaming and shouting in the early morning light. Luckily, only a handful of birds, who were startled into the air by the noise, were around to hear the emotions pouring out of Shinji.

Oddly, it felt amazingly good to Shinji to loose control and let it all out in a symphony of emotions.

"I'm scared" he repeated probably half an hour later when he was in control of himself once again, wiping his eyes with his arm as he sniffled and tried to steady his breathing. "You chose to go inside Unit One…you gave up everything for the future…you had nothing but faith and believed that the future could be better".  
Breathing deeply, to steady himself further, Shinji gently brushed away the dirt from the name on the grave marker.  
"But _I've_ seen the future" he said, swallowing as fear welled up again inside him. "I know what's coming…and I don't think I'm strong enough to go through it a second time".

"You don't have to" a voice from behind him quietly interrupted.

Yelling in surprise and shock, Shinji tried to spin around, but succeeded only in falling flat on his back and hitting his head on the grave stone. Rubbing the back of his head to ease the pain, he squinted up from his position in the glare of dawn….and his jaw dropped.  
"Ay...Ayanami?!" he spluttered in astonishment at young woman before him, her blue hair waving slightly in the early morning breeze as she watched him closely from behind her red eyes.  
The girl standing before him with a small, but slightly amused looking smile –now _that _looked strange on _that_ face- shook her head. "No Shinji. Rei is Rei…and I am I".  
After a half seconds thought, he realized there was only one possible answer.  
"…_Lilith?"  
_

The figure in front of him inclined her head as if thinking about his question before shrugging and replying cryptically "in a manner of speaking", walking closer to stand next to him.  
Shinji fought the urge to edge away from her as she moved closer, images of an enormous white figure coming out of the clouds, transposing themselves on the face that gazed at him with those same crimson eyes now…  
But for some reason, the fear he expected to rush into him didn't come.  
Instead, Shinji slowly stood, taking strength from the solid ground under his hands as he pushed himself to his knees, then stood to stand in front of the 'girl' in her school uniform watching him.  
At which point, he couldn't help but notice that while the rising sun at his back cast long, deep shadows from all the grave markers around him…_she _didn't.

"I'm not really here" she said quickly with a slight smile as the observation passed through his mind. "And no, you are not loosing your grip on reality" she assured him.

"After everything that's happened, I am not so sure" he replied somewhat sarcastically.  
"Understandable" she nodded. "If it helps, think of me…as an echo of the events, a shadow without form, nothing more then a memory in your mind".  
"Well uh…you're a rather…talkative memory" he replied, then stopped. _Oh God, am I talking to myself now_ he asked in despair…  
"Technically, yes and no" 'Lilith' shrugged, stepping forward again, close enough to reach out her hand towards his face. Shinji flinched instinctively away, but stopped and held himself steady as she lightly ran his fingers across his face. To his surprise, despite her claims that she wasn't actually here he _felt _her fingers.

_I _am _going insane_ he decided mournfully.

His confusion must have shown on his face, because she moved to explain.  
"I'm a part of you Shinji" she said, gently tracing the line of his face, as if she was fascinated by them. "You made a decision, days or lifetimes ago. That one choice, of hope, of the belief that humanity _could_ go on in its present form, that people _could _find existence in a world of AT fields…that decision unmade the choices that had led into instrumentality".  
"Yes, and you sent me…back" he agreed.  
"Lilith _and_ Rei sent you back" she corrected him. "But you still achieved completion, if only for a second".  
"Or an eternity" Shinji softly rebutted  
"Yes" she agreed, sounding pleased with his understanding. "And in that moment you touched the minds of countless people, before you separated again". Now she brought her other hand up and gently raised his head to look directly into her eyes. "It took an extraordinary strength to break free and decide to return to life Shinji. Especially after everything you went through".  
"It wasn't anything" he mumbled in reply, looking away from her eyes for a second before with a sharp pull, she yanked his attention back up.  
"No it _was _something" she said, her tone now sharper. "In that moment, you acted purely out of your own self without any thought of what it might cost you, even if you didn't consciously realize it. If you _hadn't_, the powers at the core of instrumentality would never have changed the universe for you".

Shinji swallowed slightly at the penetrating look being directed at him.

"I just don't know" he admitted in a horse voice. "I won't run away, I'll stay and fight, die if I have to, but I just don't know how I'm supposed to _stop_ this…"  
"Do you think that Rei, Yui, Lilith or Tabris would send you back to your death?" she laughed. "The necklace was only part of what they left you".  
"As a reminder of how I failed" Shinji whispered.  
"As a symbol of what is worth fighting for" she corrected him with a narrowing of her eyes. "But you also absorbed a lot of information…I am…" she stopped to think with a distant look for a few seconds, before focusing back…"part of that. In the last seconds as creation itself unraveled, I was embedded into your mind. A fragment of Lilith if you will, for a short time, to help you stop Third Impact, to give you and the Lilim a chance to live".  
"But…why would Lilith _want _to help me?" he asked in complete exasperation. "She's an _Angel!_"  
"Not all Angels are created equal Shinji" she replied with a touch of…what? Disappointment? Sadness? Scolding? "Anymore then every human is a Hitler or Gendo Ikari…the sacrifice Tabris made for you I thought would show this".  
"Tabris?" Shinji asked in confusion, the name sounding like he _should _know it…but he didn't. 'Lilith's' smile turned slightly bittersweet as she withdrew her hands from his face.  
"You know him as Kaworu Nagisa"

("No No NO! It's a lie! Kaworu CAN'T be an Angel")-

("You betrayed me! Just like my Father!")-

("I've been waiting for you Shinji")-

("This is the light of my Soul")-

("Why are you DOING this!?")-

("Now, please, destroy me")-

("I…don't understand")-

("You are _not_ the existence that should die")-

The flood of memories rose again, staggering him back to his knees as he shut his eyes and fought back tears.  
The feeling of such utter betrayal.  
The utter confusion as the serene but emphatic Angel insisted he _had_ to die.  
The agony of indecision as Shinji had been forced to confront killing the one person who he thought might actually love him for who he was.  
The sickening explosion of gore as the tiny figure in his hand exploded like wet clay in a human hand.

The horrors were banished though, by the feeling of a pair of slender arms connected to soft, gentle hands wrapping around his shoulders and holding him close, tugging him back to reality, making him aware of the pain shooting through his knees from the rocky surface he had crushed them onto and forcing him into a more comfortable position.

"Kaworu _was_ an Angel" Rei's voice said softly into his ear as Shinji wondered at her presence.

He _knew _she was _not_ Rei, she was _not _real, not physically there…but damnit she _sounded _like her, she _smelt _like her…she _felt _like her.

"He was _born_ from Adam, but he made a _choice_, just like you did Shinji. He got to know humanity though _you" _she declared, her voice sharpening and causing Shinji to open his eyes, to find hers now _very _close and her expression emphatic. "He made a choice _not _to claim this world for his kind, at the price of yours; he decided _your _species was the one that deserved to live, to inherent the future".  
"But what does this have to do with you?" he asked to redirect the conversation away from the painful memories.  
"Lilith…" she explained after a pause as she examined him closely, "was the _source_ of humanity Shinji" the…avatar explained, "just as Adam was the source of the Angels".  
"So…we're your…Liliths…children?" Shinji asked with a disbelieving expression. Yup, the Universe had just twisted another 90 degrees, they were at a full 180 now…  
"It's an over simplification…but accurate enough, at least as you can understand it I suppose" she shruged. "And she wants _her_ children to survive, to inherent the future. So that's why I was here" she said, before gently releasing him and standing up.  
"Wait, what do you mean 'was' here" he asked in alarm as she looked at him with a somewhat sad expression now on her face.  
"Shinji" she pointed out with a somewhat amused tone in her voice, "I…don't exist; I'm a fragment, an echo like a reflection in the water. Take away that water and I don't exist. You have questions, but you picked up the answers to them, they lie inside you". She paused for a second and slowly started to walk away from him, deeper into the cemetery, but her face remained locked on his.  
"You decided on your own merits to reject instrumentality. You fought yesterday on your own, to protect Rei and Toji. You stood up to your father, you confronted your fears". Turning away from him, she walked past him towards the centre of the cemetery and into the rising sun, Shinji wincing from the light and looking away as his eyes blinked in pain, the after image of her making It appear that the figure of Rei had just become as iridescently white as he remembered Lilith being.  
"You'll do fine Shinji. Be well".

Raising a hand to block out the glare of the sun, Shinji wasn't exactly surprised to see the phantom had vanished.

But her words remained.

_Well_ he thought to himself.  
Save the world, save his friends, save his race.

_Sure, no problem _he thought, surprised suddenly that after the short talk with someone who may or may not have even been here…he actually felt confidence in himself, the rising sun perfectly reflecting his mood.  
It wasn't that he was no longer scared to death…but as the images of Misato, Askua, Rei, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari…everyone he knew passed him, he realized he finally had the answer he had been seeking since arriving.

It hadn't been enough for him, in the past, to have something worth _dying_ for.

Instead, he had _finally_ realized that he had something…someone…_many _someone's, all of whom were worth _living _for.  
Fighting for.

_Is that the answer, Mother? _Shinji wondered to himself for a few seconds, before deciding her answer would certainly be in the affirmative. He ran his hand gently across the top of her marker in farewell then turned away, heading back up the hill. Leaving the cemetery, he turned down the road and started to talk down towards Tokyo 3 and a nearby Bus depot, checking his watch and wincing.

Seven fifty…Misato was probably up by now and _that _probably meant-

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN HE IS GONE?" Captain Misato Katsuragi all but screamed into her phone.  
Her victim, a poor level two communications technician would later be famous for his claim that Katsuragi hadn't needed or used anything as primitive as a phone to contact the operations centre; that in fact she had made herself known from halfway across central Dogma with nothing but the power of her enraged voice.

It would, unfortunately, become a rather common story from a rather large number of people as the year progressed.

"Captain this is Hyuga" the more senior officer took over the communications line, to the utter relief of the junior technical staffer. "The Third Child exited Headquarters roughly two hours ago from surface access J-227" he said, bringing the final security image on the MAGI's trace up on his screen, which quickly changed to 'TARGET LOST' in large flashing letters, the best CASPER could probably come to an apology.

"Didn't anyone think to _stop _him?" she demanded, moderating her voice heavily out of difference to the fact that she had to work with the junior officer, as she stomped her way towards the command centre.  
"He wasn't under arrest" Makoto pointed out over the line, bringing Misato up short as she rode the small one person lift shaft up to the command centre. "And at the time all senior personnel were either off duty or busy with post battle operations".

It was at least an exquisitely tactful way of pointing out that Shinji had snuck out from in front of her, while _she _was sleeping on the job.

"Well yeah, I guess" she said out loud, causing the trio of senior lieutenants to jump, startled as she stepped off the drop lift and flipped her phone shut, letting out a sigh. "Okay, let's look at this. He left most of his things in his room, so we can probably safely assume he isn't actually going to _leave _the city…but he's our only functioning EVA pilot and we have no way of contacting him…we can't risk him just vanishing on us like this". She mulled the problem over for a few seconds, and then nodded slowly.

"Have the MAGI check surveillance footage from the train station and bus depots to see if they can spot him. Then send an alert to all the Section 2 personnel in the city to try and find him. If they do, tell them to keep an eye on him, DON'T approach him. Just let us know; I'll go get him myself. The last thing we need is for a bunch of black suits to scare the boy half to death".

"Roger" Maya, Makoto and Shigeru said in unison –she still didn't get how they did that- getting to work with a smooth efficiency that did them credit.

Misato on the other hand couldn't help but feel guilty over her orders. Part of her was angry with Shinji leaving without telling anyone, but that part was overshadowed by a deep and abiding sadness for the kid and everything he had gone through. She had tried to press Ritsuko for more information about Shinji's mother and the events he had alluded to yesterday, only to be shrugged off with promises of 'later' every time…which she grudgingly admitted was a fair enough excuse given the chaos happening before during and after the battle.

_But you had better believe there _will _be a later_ she thought grimly as she grabbed a fresh cup of coffee in a (mostly) clean mug. That such a secret about Unit One, Shinji and the Commander had been kept from her was utterly flabbergasting. Judging from the reaction of both the Commander and Ritsuko, _they _hadn't expected him to shove it in their faces either, in fact she doubted they expected he had remembered.  
That he had flatly refused to pilot the Evangelion wasn't exactly surprising in this light but she had felt an odd…what? An almost materialistic pride in Shinji, when he had taken up the gauntlet his father had thrown down? When Rei had been brought in and he stopped her from trying to stand up? At the look of very real anger she had seen flash in Shinji's eyes when he looked up at his Father after sitting Rei back down? That he had cared so much about someone he had _never met_ to effectively offer his life in her place?  
She decided Ritsuko had been right in the elevator yesterday.

He was _nothing _like his Father.

"I've found him!" Shigeru Aboba cried out suddenly, breaking through her thoughts like a siren and snapping her attention back as the technician opened a holographic window to his left from a security camera, framing Shinji in motion with bright orange labels saying 'LIVE', 'Subject: 3RD C', 'SC-02293C' doing their best to block the image itself.  
"Where is he?" she demanded, jumping forward to lean over his chair at the image.  
"On the surface" Shigeru replied as he worked his console. "It looks like he is heading right back to Junction 227" he said, tracing the camera around to follow the Third Child as he walked down the street towards a Geofront access point. Misato sighed in relief.  
"Thank God for that" she muttered. "When he gets in the lift, send it right to sublevel sixteen" she ordered, turning and pulling her slightly crumpled uniform into a semblance of neatness. "I'm going down to meet him".  
"Yes Mam" Shigeru said, waiting carefully until she was out of earshot before muttering "I wish she would come to welcome me personally when _I_ arrive at work" under his breath.  
"I don't think you would want the kind of welcome Shinji is going to get" Hyuga muttered back in an equally sotto voice.

It didn't really surprise Shinji when the lift continued down past the landing he had selected the lift to stop at, the circular floor counter placidly continuing to click over steadily as he descended towards the surface level of the Geofront, then down into the huge Central Dogma complex.  
_Well that answers the question of if they know I've returned_ he thought wryly. The only remaining question was who would be waiting to greet him…  
Eventually the lift stopped and with the soft ring of a bell, the doors opened…revealing Mistao Katsaragi, looking slightly out of breath –and slightly irritated- before him.  
"Well hello you" she said dryly, causing Shinji to suppress the cocky grin he wanted to give her. He recognized her tone and expression as one of slight exasperation underlain with very real concern, so he offered her an apologetic smile instead.  
"Uh hello Mistao" he stuttered as he stepped out of the lift, slightly surprised slightly that she still reduced him to a stuttering child with _that_ look.  
"Did you even _think _to tell anyone where you were going?" she demanded.

Shinji _thought _about simply apologizing by default, but decided the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"Well uh I was going to tell you, but you looked so intimidating as you snored on that-"  
"Hey I do NOT snore!" she replied hotly, then flushed as she realized from his smile that she had been had. "Pah" she sighed, grabbing him in a hug that mashed his face right into her chest as she mussed his hair, "I'm sorry, you just worried me".

"Yup" Hyuga said in a deadpanned tone as the trio of technicians watched the security footage of the Operations Director and Third Child reuniting, the former crushing the later against her chest in a way that would have probably qualified the security footage for a parental advisory rating. "He's clearly terrified"

"Perverts" Maya muttered from her station on the far side of the level.

It was about when Shinji was deciding that suffocating to death between Misato's rather formidable female assets wasn't a _bad _way to die that she released him, feeling his face flush from the lack of oxygen as she did so.  
Either that or his embarrassment.  
"I'm sorry" he said completely automatically, suppressing the wince that almost followed as he once again apologized without thinking, although…he had to admit at least this time he really _did_ mean it.  
"It's okay" she sighed with a smile. "Just try not to give me a heart attack like that again" she said, throwing an arm around his shoulder and half leading, half dragging him back into Central Dogma.

It took them about ten minutes to reach his room and they talked easily along the way about all kinds of things. When asked where he had gone, Shinji replied honestly that he had gone to pay his respects to his Mothers grave on an early morning walk. Misato appeared to hesitate slightly at the answer, as if she had wanted to ask another question –and he could guess which one- but the Captain had enough tact to just smile and leave it.

He in turn inquired about the EVA program in general, getting mostly accurate, if minimal answers in return, 'found out' about the existence of Askua and Rei when he inquired over his designation as the Third Child, then used the opportunity to move the subject to Rei.

"So…what happened to her?" he asked as they waited before a sub basement elevator door, directly under the top of the pyramid.  
"She had an accident in her EVA" Misato replied honestly. "It…went out of control; she was injured before it shut down"."And she was willing, in that state, to go into Unit One" he said, shaking his head in near disbelief and not a small amount of utter hate for the man who, with his single ever redeeming act of rescuing her, had made Rei utterly beholden to him.  
"She didn't really have any choice" Mistato replied with a somewhat sad smile. "If you hadn't agreed to go, she would have been our last hope…and she would have given it everything she had".

Shinji knew, much better then Misato, just how horribly true that statement was. Rei wouldn't give a damn if her life was thrown away under the assumption that she could be replaced. Now _that _was a notion he had to disprove to her, and disprove soon if he was going to get her away from his Father, but he was at a loss about how to do that.

"Can I see her?" he asked impulsively as the elevator arrived and they started to ascend. Misato shot him a surprised, but pleased look at the request.  
"I'll have to clear it with Doctor Akagi" she hedged, "but I don't think it will be a problem" Misato nodded. "I think she would like that".

The door opened and they made their way back to his room in silence to let him pack up, Misato explained that they were going for some quick debriefings over the battle, followed by a tour of the complex. Quietly humming to himself as he shoved his few possessions into his bag, he saw Mistaso out of the corner of his eye walk in from the doorway after a few seconds, before sitting cross legged on the head of his bed, leaning back against the wall.

_If she knew how many times I had dreamed of her coming into my room and doing exactly that _Shinji thought to himself, _she'd probably throw me out the window right now…_

"Shinji" she said in a tone that snapped his attention back to her face, an unreasoning horror that he had just _said_ his thoughts out loud passing across him, until he calmed down in realizing saw she just looked intent…not embarrassed.  
"I have to ask" she said with an odd look in her eyes, "what…was it like yesterday?"  
Shinji inclined his head slightly as he considered his answer. He knew anything he said would probably get back to Doctor Akagi in an hour or so, then back to his father by lunchtime even if Misato wasn't spying for them. He knew she just couldn't help gossiping to her oldest friend.

Still, if anyone here deserved an answer…she did.

"Terrifying" he said quietly, glancing away from her probing eyes as he thought back. "Scared to death that I was going to die, but even more scared that if I didn't do it, Father would just send Rei out to die in my place".  
This was true enough. He _had _been terrified.  
If not so much of his Father, then of what would happen to Rei, Toji and his Sister if he failed…  
"You were very brave" Misato said quietly with such absolute sincerity in her voice that it almost caused his eyes to start watering again and he had to wait for a good twenty seconds with his face averted to recover himself.  
"I didn't have time to _think_ about anything" he finally replied, putting on slightly wry smile to hide the depth of his feelings. Just after you gave the order to launch…" his voice trailed off as he wondered _what _he was going to say, before pressing on, "I just kept thinking that…I was only a few seconds away from dying".

Well it wasn't _exactly _a lie Shinji justified, it was more or less what he had felt the _first_ time around, remembering he had held onto the butterfly grips hard enough to imprint the groves on the control sticks into the palms of his hands…

"Then…it was almost like…" he let his voice trail off.  
"Yes?" she said in a suddenly interested tone...  
"For a split second…I almost thought I heard my Mother" he said in an embarrassed tone. "Then I don't really remember anything until I got out of the Eva…I'm sorry" he shrugged apologetically. "  
"Don't say that" she retorted sharply. "Shinji, you were braver then you had any right to be last night; a child your age putting your life on the line without any training, to save another person from horrible pain, despite…what you remembered about Unit One…" she said, offering an invitation to talk about it, but not pressing him.  
"Uh…thank you Misato-San" he mumbled out, looking up to meet her gaze. "I'm…not really ready to talk about it" he apologized. "But I'd like to…some day".  
"I understand" she smiled, holding out his backpack, letting him shove the last of his items in. "Lets get going".

They were quite arguably the most powerful men to ever exist in the history of human civilization.

Six men. Sitting around a table, a selected public face for twelve men, although everyone who knew of this group knew only one man in both groups really mattered. Four of them were highlighted by splashes of color that struck them as far too festive for the serious nature of the meetings they performed; Blue, Yellow, Red and Green, sitting two by two. Anchoring the far ends of the table, the final two men existed in plain white light, each studying the other with poker faces that would have probably had them banned from Las Vegas if, they had ever had the inclination to visit it. After all, when you got down to it, all these men were gamblers.

Albeit playing for stakes grossly higher then mere money or power.

The Human Instrumentality Committee.  
SEELE's public face.

"So" Red said into the silence. "The Angels have returned. It is…rather sudden".  
"It's exactly the same as fifteen years ago" Yellow replied with a snort, leaning forward to glance around the table. "It's the way of natural disasters, they come without any warning".

_We have had plenty of warning you fool_ Gendo Ikari thought silently, keeping his expression carefully free of the contempt he felt for the committee member. These old men were alarmed that what had been predicted to come to pass HAD come to pass.

The stupidity of it astounded him.  
They reached for the future greedily, and then hesitated when they beheld their greatest goal and the means to reach it, shying away from what needed to be done.  
It was why they would fail  
And _he_ wouldn't.

"We could easily say this was fortunate" Red reflected in a thoughtful tone. On the positive side, our huge investments would not appear to be such a waste after all".  
"You can't be sure about that yet" Blue cut in with a scoff in his voice. "There is a great deal to be done thus far, if it doesn't pay off then its still a waste".  
"Correct" Yellow nodded smoothly. "And now that news of the Angels has become public knowledge, we must move quickly to control it. If certain truths become public knowledge, all hope for humanity will die…alongside us". That thought caused an uncomfortable shifting around for several of the people in the room, earning yet more of Ikari's contempt. That at this late stage in the game they still worried about their own lives and reputations was just pathetic…  
"You may rest assured that it's already been taken care of" Gendo replied smoothly and easily, calming their fears like a parent tried to convince their children that there were no monsters under their beds. "A mixture of partial truth to the public and NERV's effectiveness to the UN will keep the population in line".  
"Assuming you can claim effectiveness, Ikari" Green entered the conversation with a snort, picking up a preliminary report in front of him. "I have to wonder if both NERV and EVA were used effectively". Flipping over the front page, he started to read in a tone of exasperation. "First the repair costs to Unit Zero, _now _the repair costs to Tokyo 3 and Unit One. You could bankrupt a small country for these figures!"  
"Nether the less, the operation was successful" Gendo pointed out in a flat tone. "The repair costs to Unit One are minimal; the unit only suffered superficial damage at the hands of the Angel. Further, Tokyo 3 was designed as a fortress; damage was and is expected in an engagement scenario".

He paused to let the words sink in before adding "And our total projected expenditure in this engagement was well over an order of magnitude less then the utterly ineffective UN response, even ignoring the civilian damage they caused".

"Be that as it may" Yellow stepped in as Green shut up, clearly not willing to lock horns over this issue, "we understand you gave that…toy to your son"."Correct. He was the only one able to pilot it. And he did so quite effectively".  
Red barked out a sarcastic laugh. "Is that _pride _I hear in your voice Ikari?"  
Nonplussed, Gendo's eyes flickered to his critic.  
"No, simply a statement of fact. His piloting succeeded in terminating the Angel within sixty two seconds at a minimum of cost and collateral damage, in stark comparison to the UN failure. NERV has been battle proven as the only credible agency to deal with the Angel threat".  
"Regardless of the Angels reappearance" Blue put back in, "our main priority and focus must be the Human Instrumentality Project".  
"Yes" Yellow nodded emphatically. "In these desperate times, even more so with the return of the Angels, that project is ultimately our only hope".  
"In any case" the person outlined in white opposite Ikari spoke up for the first time, "we cannot excuse any delays in that project's schedule, even because of the Angels return".  
"No delay is anticipated" Gendo replied smoothly. The man grunted in acknowledgement.  
"Well, we will examine increasing the budget to compensate for the Angels attacks, and acceleration of Evangelion deployment".  
"Now" Green nodded to the chairman, "the rest of this meeting concerns only the committee".  
"Your presence here was…appreciated, Ikari" Yellow said with an utter lack of sincerity, and then the four colored personnel vanished leaving only the two men silhouetted in white.

"Ikari" Keel Lorenz said in a somewhat softer, but infinitely more final tone. "There is no turning back".  
"I know" Gendo nodded slightly. Keel vanished.  
"Mankind has no time left" he said to the empty room, before he stood and exited the side room, returning to his office.

"Well?" Fuyutsuki asked as he returned to his desk in the cavernous office."As we suspected" Gendo snorted. "The old men finally come up against an expected consequence of their actions and become uncomfortable with their scenarios".  
"Unsurprising" Fuyutsuki shrugged, sitting himself down at a chair in front of Gendo's desk as the Commander sat himself back down. "Still we have a long way to go".  
"Indeed". Gendo nodded, then changed tracks. "How is the cleanup proceeding?"  
"Doctor Akagi assures me that Unit One will be combat ready within three hours if needed, but full repairs will take until the end of the day. The cleanup continues, all relevant Government ministries are coordinating with Section 4. "Contamination was minimal, as predicted, the only remains left by the Angel after its self destruction were adhered to Unit One. Oh and she thought you might find this interesting he said, picking up a short transcript and passing it over. Gendo read it without comment before looking up.  
"Your opinion?"  
"Shinji has no reason to lie. And his statements clearly corroborate out scenario in detail".  
"Agreed" Gendo said in a pleased tone, discarding Akagi's report on a conversation she had had with the Operations Director as the intercom buzzed.  
"Yes""Sir, the Operations Director is here to see you" the Section 2 agent doing double duty as his secretary said. "She has the Third Child with her".  
Fuyutsuki raised an eyebrow at this unexpected event, but Gendo didn't react, simply pressing the intercom and saying "very well".

Shinji blanked his face to a carefully neutral expression as the security officer stood and walked to the wooden door that was spoken of in tones of quiet dread through NERV Central. He swiped his card down a card reader next to it and with a muted thud, the lock on the door disengaged, letting him ease it open and gesture the Third Child through. Shinji glanced over at Mistao who gave him an encouraging smile, then he took a deep breath and entered the room where the commander worked.

_No, not worked, _laired, _like a spider at the center of a web_ Shinji thought darkly as he pass through the door into another world.

Most first time visitors paused upon entering the gigantic office of NERV's Supreme Commander. The long, vaguely rectangular room was built into the side of the HQ overlooking the Geofront, five centimeter thick floor-to-ceiling windows providing a spectacular panoramic view of the artificial cavern. A strangely intricate drawing on the ceiling dominated the cavernously empty room, with his Father's desk at the far end, the light from the windows behind him silhouetting him rather effectively as little more then a human shape.  
It was a grand attempt at intimidation, every possible home field advantage given to the most intimidating man in NERV and Shinji was honest enough to admit he felt the flush of adrenaline and terror pass through his system as he maintained his steady strides down the room.  
He kept it at bay however by reminding himself that he held far more cards this time around…even as he warned himself _not _to get cocky and underestimate these two people, or push too hard.

After what seamed like minutes of walking but was only twenty seconds, he stopped in front of the desk. His Father sat behind it, resting his head on his white gloved hands as he coolly watched his son approach. Vice Commander Fuyutsuki sitting on the far right of Gendo's desk also studied him, albeit with a much more open expression and much less in the way of hostility. The older man had always been an enigma to Shinji; loyal to his father and demanding the best of the people under him, but fair and flexible with something of a human side.  
At this close range and as his eyes finished adjusting and compensating for the bright light from outside, the sunglasses his Father wore were not sufficient to hide his eyes from view, which dramatically cut down the intimidation factor…but left him open to the utter disdain being projected from them.

Keeping his breathing steady, he drew strength from the memory of Lilith and the knowledge of what he was doing as he returned his fathers stare.

"I'm guessing you've never heard of Ikea" he commented idly with a raised eyebrow, causing Fuyutsuki to cough slightly in astonishment at the shear balls of making such a comment, and his Father to blink in confusion, if only once.  
A small victory, but a victory none the less.

"Why are you here?" Gendo asked, in a voice frosty enough to change global weather patterns."To discuss the terms of my piloting that thing for you" Shinji replied blandly, crossing his arms and forcing himself to relax his stance.  
"Indeed?" Gendo inquired with a hint of sardonic amusement.  
"Yes" he nodded. "Given that you are asking me to put my life on the line, I don't think it's unreasonable to define certain conditions under which I am going to do this for you".  
"And if I don't agree?" Gendo said, now with a degree of cold amusement in his tone. Shinji shrugged.  
"Then I will leave and go back to my Uncles".  
"You are a child" Gendo replied scornfully. "I can revoke his guardianship and return it to myself-"  
"Which would make me rather disinclined to pilot the Evangelion for you" Shinji pointed out calmly, ignoring his heart as it started to hammer faster. "You could probably try to force me, but I really _wouldn't_ recommend it while putting me in charge of the most powerful weapons system known to mankind".

Fuyutsuki stared in amazement at the young man standing across from his father. To say Gendo had been utterly dismissive of his Son would probably have been an understatement on the order of saying a nuclear detonation caused a slight heat wave, transferring what little affection he had for Shinji over to Rei.  
But _this_ Shinji was nothing like the Shinji he had hinted at…the dry wit, the uncompromising, level stare, the utterly confident projection…  
It was almost like Yui had come back to life, in her Son.

"You are not indispensable" Gendo retorted in that same dismissive tone. "If you will not pilot the Evangelion, Rei will do so instead".

The threat was effective, even though Shinji had been expecting it the second he had stepped into his Fathers office. Unsubtle, it still hit him with the force of one of Sachiels battering rams and for a split second, he wanted to apologize with a deep bow and run away, fast…

On the other hand, he knew if he folded, he would be placing Rei in far greater danger as a button his Father could press and get a guaranteed response from him.

"You know, on some level I _should _be surprised that you would threaten to have a fourteen year old Girl sent to her death if I didn't do exactly what you said…but I'm not".  
"Now Shinji, that's not what he-"  
"Oh of _course _it is" Shinji spat out at the Vice Commander, letting anger into his voice. "You don't have any need to defend this man in front of me. Yesterday he paraded Rei out as the consequence of me defying him, putting her through hell just to blackmail me into Unit One. Every one of us knows she wouldn't have lasted five seconds in combat, but _he_ didn't give a damn".  
Fuyutsuki didn't exactly cower from his response, but he _did_ shut up, which was enough, letting Shinji turn back to face his Father.  
"And given that you were desperate enough for a pilot to ask _me_ to come, rather then transferring the Second, whom I understand has been training for this her entire life, I am willing to bet that even_ with _Rei active, there is no viable replacement for me".  
Silence yet again greeted his observation from both officers, which Shinji took strength from, resisting the urge to start clenching his fists. _I can't let them show how nervous I'm getting_ he told himself, trying to calm down and moderate his voice. "You are asking a fourteen year old child to put his life on the line, going into combat against things that tear through divisions of crack troops. I don't think my requests are very unreasonable…given the resources flowing through this place".

Gendo frowned ever so slightly in irritation at having the same argument he had just put to the committee thrown back in his face.

"And those would be?" Gendo asked with a sigh, not so much exasperated as impatient.  
"Firstly, a monthly stipend, tax free, of oh…two million Yen should be sufficient" he said, getting raised eyebrows in return from both Commanders. "Second, It's safe to say that I will need to make arrangements to live separately" Shinji said, glancing back at his father. "I think minimizing our contact outside of work would be for the best".  
"Is that all?" Gendo asked as if board.  
"For the moment" Shinji shrugged. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything else in the future. Oh suffice to say, the same financial compensation will be extended to the First and Second".  
"The First has need of such resources" Gendo said dismissively.  
"Why?" Shinji challenged, taking a step closer. "She is a human being with a life ahead of her. Even if at this point in time she does not need such resources, there is every reason to think she _might _in the future".

Gendo and Fuyutsuki exchanged a look and Shinji had to work to keep the grin off his face. Oh _he_ knew why Rei didn't need a bank, but _they _didn't know _he _knew…and they couldn't _tell _him why.

And frankly, six million Yen a month was quite literally a drop in the Pacific Ocean to the resources NERV and SEELE had to throw around…especially given that the two officers in front of him only expected human civilization to last perhaps another year before Third Impact.

"And in exchange?" Gendo inquired, still with that slightly mocking edge.  
"I'll pilot the Evangelion" Shinji said carefully. "I will not run away, I will follow your orders and I will try to act civil and professional to you at all times in public, to not undermine your authority…and try to forget what happened to my Mother".  
"Acceptable" Gendo said after a moments pause. "Vice Commander handle the rest of this for me. That will be all, Pilot Ikari" he said, dismissively, already turning back to his terminal.  
"Yes Sir" Fuyutsuki acknowledged for both of them, getting up and gesturing towards the door. "Come along then Shinji".

The two men left the office in silence, the door closing with a thump and leaving Gendo alone. He paused to look almost appraisingly at the entrance for a few seconds, then lifted his phone and pressed a speed dial button, getting a woman's voice on the other end after the second ring.  
"It's me. Prepare a full training and harmonics test schedule for the Third Child. He will become the designated pilot for Unit One, with Rei as the backup when she recovers, at least until Unit Zero is reactivated".  
Hanging up, Gendo got back to work, his Son already forgotten.

Misato stood up as the door to the Commanders office opened, Shinji exiting along with the Vice Commander.  
"Sir" she nodded coming to something like parade rest.  
"Captain" he inclined his head in return. "I'll return pilot Ikari to your hands…in fact why don't we skip the rest of the debriefing today, I think he has been through enough…and we've answered most of our questions" he offered, wondering if Misato had known Ritsiko had gone straight to Gendo with her comments about Shinji's experience inside Unit One.  
"Yes Sir" she agreed, if with slight confusion on her face. The pilot and the Commander exchanged their own nod, then the elder man moved off, down the executive level corridor towards his own office.  
"So" Misato said, getting into motion towards the elevators, Shinji beside her. "What was all that about?"  
"Oh, um…well, my Father and I just needed to set some ground rules if this was going to work" he said. "Mostly it was all just getting to hammer out the fact that we're not going to live together".  
"You're not?" Misato asked in surprise as they entered the lift, but hiding her pleasure that Shinji had decided to stay with NERV, then she frowned as the implications of what he had just said set in.  
"Hang on, wait, where are you going to live?"  
Shinji just shrugged with a somewhat indifferent look on his face. "I'm not sure; I think the Vice Commander is going to work out some room down here for me…or something".

The lift 'pinged and opened onto a Central Dogma passageway, this time unlike earlier in the morning, NERV personnel were around, generally moving with a purpose but still stopping to acknowledge the operations director with a nod or brief getting, unsurprisingly most didn't know who he was as yet and he felt a twinge of envy over that fact. He wondered idly if that was Askua's influence...

Wait

That wasn't envy.  
"Uh Misato, is there a bathroom around here somewhere?'  
"Hmm?" she replied, clearly somewhere else, before she blinked at his question. "Oh uh yeah, right over here" she said, stepping into a side corridor and pointing to a door halfway down. "I'll be waiting right here""Thank you" he said politely with a nod before hastily heading down towards it.

Watching him hurry away alone, with just that one backpack filled with his few valued possessions, something clicked in the Captains mind and she reached a quick and easy decision, bringing out her phone and searching for the entry labeled NERV-VC-Fuyutsuki.

Shinji entered the Bathroom, which looked utterly identical to any of the other bathrooms he had visited throughout NERV and noticed to his relief that it was empty of any personnel who might want to pat him on the back or shake his hand or something. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the sentiment, it was just that he couldn't afford the delay. Quickly, but not hastily, he made his way into one of the cubicles, closed the door behind him and proceeded to throw up for a good thirty seconds.  
By the end of it, he was shivering almost uncontrollably, before he flushed and left to wash his mouth out, trying to steady his shaking hands.  
No, it wasn't just his hands that were shaking, it was most of his body and annoyingly, it didn't want to stop doing so.  
The effort it had taken to stand up to his father and that icy gaze…that look that felt like it was flaying through every defense he put up…  
_But I did it_ a small voice of triumph declared inside him, easing the tremors slowly and letting him stand taller.  
_But I did it.  
I did it…_

The money he had extorted out of his Father only because he had wanted to imply a motive for his piloting of the Eva his Father would understand –greed- rather then any other motives his Father might look at to apply leverage with.  
Not to mention it couldn't hurt to have access to some limited financial resources that he might need some time in the future…But mostly, he had proven to himself that he could stand up to his Father, he could control his terror. Even if it made him sick to his stomach...  
Finally the shaking stopped and he finished washing the bitter taste out of his mouth and throat, washed his hands and exited the bathroom.

Misato was on her phone, a pleased expression on his face as she hung up, then spotted him and waved him over.  
"Good news" she declared.  
"Oh?"  
"You're my new roommate!"  
"Who decided that?" he asked, fighting to keep the smile off his face as those four words washed away the final effects of meeting with his Father. Living with Misato was a hell of a wild ride, but he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  
"Well I can't have you living by yourself" she said with a shrug, "and I've got this big apartment, so it makes sense…and uh, I just got appointed your legal guardian…your Father…"  
"Didn't want the responsibility?" Shinji replied with a shrug, the echo of his abandonment now a powerless memory. "That's okay, he hasn't been my guardian for years now anyway…and I think you'll do just fine".  
"Great!" she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him off balance as she started down towards the car park. "Well we'll have to have a party tonight, then get all your stuff shipped here from your Uncles!" she declared, Misatos mind clearly already hard at work preparing for a celebration at night…despite the fact it was barely nine thirty in the morning. "I'll cook you a huge welcome home meal!"

"Oh…great" Shinji managed to get out before swallowing. _Oh God in heaven, not again, I can't go through that…food…again…_  
Terror starting to surface again, Misato cheerfully dragged Shinji off towards oblivion.


	5. Rei I

The Angel strode through Tokyo 3.

The small but dense city, home to just over a million people looked all but deserted at high noon as the 'messenger of God' walked along its reinforced streets, a state of affairs that would be rather absurd in any other modern city. Unfortunately for the population of _this_ city however, this scenario would play out with somewhat depressing frequency over the next year, leading to a slow drain of the civilian population even as more UN troops and personnel were deployed to the front line in humanities war, actually increasing the cities population over the long term.

The Angel suddenly halted in its stroll as it reached a cross street without warning or apparent reason, turning slightly as if listing to something only it could hear before shifting around to face a relatively non nondescript building a half kilometer downrange with great interest. Seconds later, a mournful siren started screaming into the still midday air; announcing to any human stupid enough to be on the surface during an Angel attack that if they _were_ still in the area, they had roughly ten seconds to be somewhere else as a quartet of rods shot up the corners of said building with an almighty crashing sound. Mere moments later, the front of the building folded down to reveal that the 'building' was in fact an empty shell, but an empty shell containing the equal and opposite to the terror stalking the streets of Tokyo 3.

An Evangelion.

The Angel however was perfectly game for the implied challenge that was presented with its adversary surfacing, the 'eyes' on its head flashing a brilliant white as they unleashed a burst of unholy energy towards the vaguely human shaped figure.

Shinji however was already moving, Unit One flowing out of the launch building and around the corner to his left in a blur of motion that shattered trees, burst a water main open and finally crunched a telephone booth under his foot, but effectively got him clear before the energy burst blew the EVA-Lift into loosely associated debris. His target temporarily blocked from view, Shinji detached his now severed umbilical cable with a thought, sprinting down the street to skid into a right hand turn at the first intersection, heaving Unit One into a dead run up a street parallel to the Angels.

"It's moving in pursuit Shinji" Misato's voice said from speakers throughout the cockpit, a tiny 'Gods view' map clicking open in front of him which Shinji spared a millisecond to glance at. It was a simple but effective layout of the streets he was running through, centered on a green circle that represented his location with a large red square moving in pursuit down the street he had left ten seconds ago. Following him wasn't exactly difficult given the footprints Shinji was pounding into the pavement, but it was either too stupid enough to try to backtrack and cut him off, or perhaps it was enjoying the chase, somehow knowing that his battery power was only good for -Shinji spared a glance at the digital clock to his right– four minutes and twenty seconds.

"Got it" he replied to Misato before skidding to a halt by digging his heals into the reinforced road surface, wincing as asphalt sprayed up under his feet before he slowed enough to duck into yet another street, this one again offset ninety degrees as the Angel finally came around the intersection behind.

"Unlock three-sixteen North!" Shinji shouted. The voice recognition software in his entry plug translated his order into rather more useful digital information in a split second, causing a building face a dozen meters away to unfold and reveal an Evangelion scale 105 Millimeter Autorifle. Retrieving it and allowing its targeting systems to integrate with the Eva, he flicked his HUD mode to SHOOT, then spun around and took a second to steady himself.

"Distance to target?"

"Closing at one point four…one point three…one point two" Maya responded over the command channel, counting down the distance to the Angel as it closed with a deceptively slow gait.

Of course, when you realized each 'step' moved the Angel about fifty meters, it became apparent it really wasn't THAT slow.

When it reached eight hundred meters, Shinji hugged the rifle tightly, 'exhaled' a lungful of LCL and leaped back into the street, his AT field exploding downrange and seeking the Angels as he brought his rifle up. A circle flew across his 'SuperCockpit' display as the aim point of his weapon moved, centering neatly on the distant target, followed a split second later by a floating triangular drift indicator, signaling a good target lock

He squeezed the trigger.

A burst of armor piercing shells ripped downrange, exploding in a spectacular -but useless- display against a familiar hexagonal wall of light.

_Damn, its still too far _Shinji swore; the Angel wasn't yet close enough for the phase spaces to neutralize.

Stepping out of the cloud of smoke that had obscured it, the Angel retaliated with a blast of energy, which in turn battered against Shinji's own field, which he had brought back to a more normal range.

Standoff.

_Well at least until my batteries run out _Shinji thought grimly, watching as the timer dropped to under three minutes.

Clearly irritated at the situation, the Angel again started to stomp forward towards the close combat range it would be more effective at. Calmly, Shinji held his ground as the rangefinder numbers dropped…then at three hundred meters, he forced his AT field out again.

_This _time an explosion of orange light occurred roughly two hundred meters away as the twin barriers collided and strobed violently. He did nothing but grit his teeth for an agonizing five seconds as the phase spaces equalized, the Angel stopping as if in confusion at the explosion of rainbow light in front of it.

Big mistake.

Shinji opened fire again letting loose a long burst with a confident grin more suited to the face of the Second Child then his own, but not giving a damn as he leaned in against the recoil. This time the shells tore into the torso of the Angel easily, sending chunks of what looked disturbingly like bone and flesh coated in deep blue blood splattering into nearby buildings, the depleted uranium penetrators tearing into the suddenly undefended target.

_Of course the problem with neutralizing AT fields was that it worked both ways _Shinji knew.

The Angel stumbled back a step as a significant amount of its chest turned into a cratered wasteland, before it swung back into line with snap of motion, its core flushing a bright red.

_Yeah its ticked off _he thought, stamping his Eva's foot down.

A miniature EM catapult buried under the street fired in response to Unit Ones foot, causing a fifteen meter thick and sixty meter tall metal plate of ultra dense steel and ceramics to rocket skyward, cutting off his view of the Angel just as its head flashed. A half second or so later, the air turned red from the light of the explosion and the centre of the shield bowed in heavily as it absorbed the particle blasts fury. Shinji ducked neatly to the side of the slowly collapsing plate, vaguely hearing Misato urgently break in about 'looking high' as he moved into the clear. Squinting up into the bright midday sun for an agonizingly long split second before the image filters kicked in and compensated, he saw the Angel had in fact taken flight, hopping up in a short arc to bring itself down on Unit One's position and brain it. But Shinji's training, beaten into him by Misato, Agaki –and not a little of Askua- over many many months, held true; his weapon had followed his gaze.

The elegant arc turned into an unsophisticated crash as the tracers shot up into Angels exposed core, cracking it and sending the Angel spinning out of the sky to land on its back in a cloud of dust. Five quick steps to close up the distance and Shinji once again leveled his weapon, this time holding the trigger down as his weapon chewed deeply into the core, sending ruby crystal flying in chunks the size of small cars as he ran his entire magazine of electronically fired projectiles dry. With a loud shriek the Angels back arched, Shinji jumped back with all his might-

And the target exploded, a purple column of fire reaching for the sky as his battery clock changed to the red of 00:59:99.

_Alas poor Sachiel, we barely knew yee_ Shinji thought, before the cityscape vanished in a flash of rainbow light, to be replaced by the blinding white light of one of NERV's simulation rooms. Unit One stood in the centre of the rather sterile room, a half dozen umbilical cables connecting it to the MAGI which had been running the tests.

A communications window titled CONTROL popped up on the display, with a cheerful Misato grinning at him, provoking an unconscious smile in return from Shinji at the carefree, happy look he had so terribly missed_…_

"Outstanding work Shinji" she said. "You're really a natural for this you know".

"I'll say" Akagi agreed, a new window with the Doctor opening up next to Misato, though the Doctor was really still looking at her console, glancing up occasionally to look at him. "Your synchronization ratio has been holding steady at _ninety three _since the start of the week, both in synch tests _and_ combat simulations, it's utterly unprecedented".

Shinji responded with a somewhat bashful look on his face and a shrug. He had never been that comfortable with praise over his piloting ability. Partially because he always got embarrassed when praise was directed at him and partially because it was followed -inevitably- by Asukas physical and verbal abuse as she lashed out at the number one threat to her 'best pilot' status.

On the other hand, some astonishment on NERV's end was understandable. Shinji had decided at his first synchronization tests not to hide his true level of ability, mostly because it would just be too easy for him to let it slip. Misato he knew, didn't really _care_ how he had gotten such ability, she was just glad to have such a capable pilot (not to mention decent cook and financially independent house mate) under her command. He didn't know nor really care what his Father had made of his surprising abilities. Strangely, the Vice Commander had appeared to be more friendly then he remembered, asking questions about his life since he had last seen him which Shinji tried to politely answer, before he –indirectly- tried to apologize and justify his Fathers lack of the most basic form of human emotion, blaming stress, pressure and guilt.

Shinji had –barely- managed to hold back some choice words during _that _conversation.

Maya and the rest of the technicians were astonished at his 'natural' ability, but simply accepted it as a fortuitous bit of luck given that the Angels had returned, working hard with him to get him up to speed.

Ritsuko on the other hand…well…it was more like his abilities, statistically unlike anything she had seen in the other two Evangelion pilots, irritated her.

It wasn't so much that she _suspected _him, Shinji thought, as she was _exasperated_ by him and obsessively trying to dissect what made him tick.

On the other hand, both of the Evangelions at Tokyo 3 had their idiosyncrasies as Shinji knew, so he had to wonder if he might be just imagining things.

As loath as he was to sympathize with his Father in _anything_, Shinji was slowly starting to understand how paranoia could rapidly become habit forming…

This time at least, Akagi just looked up from her console with a smile. "Okay that's fine Shinji, you can return now".

"Roger" he yawned, desynching with a thought. At Maya's command, the computer umbilical connections detached to be reeled back up into the ceiling and the unit was locked back into its cradle, then slid along heavy railway tracks to the nearby Eva cages. It took a good several minutes as Shinji waited impatiently, but eventually Unit One jolted into place, the secondary and primary restraints were locked back in and the entry plug was ejected.

At last able to get up and out as the plug split open, Shinji gratefully accepted a thick towel from an orange suited technician waiting on the catwalk, vigorously working to clean his hair of the coppery tasting amber fluid. The skin and airtight plug suit kept most of his body perfectly dry while piloting Eva, but he always had to work to get the last little trace of the LCL out of his face and hair every time he left the unit, accepting but not liking the necessity of 'breathing' it in.

Even more so now that he knew exactly what LCL _was_.

"Thank you" Shinji smiled with a polite bow to the grizzled worker who had handed him the towel, causing the man thirty years Shinji's senior to bow deeply in return with his own smile, before he and his companion entered the entry plug to start their post power down maintenance checklists.

It was more then a little disturbing to Shinji how such a small expression of gratitude could get such a response. True, he had been making a real effort this time to interact with the NERV personnel, showing interest and genuine emotion to everyone from the lowest worker right to the operations staff he interacted with as proof of just how seriously he was taking his pay packet and responsibilities...but the flipside of that was that everyone treated him with a kind of awed respect that was a little awkward at times. Especially after his 'first attempts' to pilot Unit One.

Shinji had, truly, done his very best to start off _completely _inept in the Evangelion.

In fact, he had taken a perverse joy in his first simulated combat exercise, completely missing the simulated target and leveling half of downtown Tokyo 3 with his missile launcher on Autofire, before 'tripping' into a Surface to Surface artillery battery and blowing a simulated Unit One into a crippled mess from the explosion of over two hundred high yield shells going off simultaneously

The looks on Misato and Ritsukos faces after _that_ exercise had -almost- caused him to burst out laughing.

Then again, he had managed to convince Misato –once she had calmed down over the fact that he now earned more money then _she _did- that he felt he needed to _earn_ the privileges he had so carefully exhorted from his Father, that they couldn't risk him not having a minimal level of effective combat ability before letting him get back to a 'normal' life. To that end, he had been able to put off school for a week. Instead, from nine to five each day, he had been undergoing full scale combat training, stunning the operations staff with just how quickly he had become proficient in blowing crap up.

It was an elegant solution he had thought, to showing _some _level of justifiable skill against the Angels. He really didn't want to get killed trying to play 'the rookie' against something that spanked armies without breaking a sweat.

Jumping lightly off the side of the docking cage to the main access walkway as pink coolant started to pour in at the bottom of the cage, Shinji strode to the nearby lift and ascended several levels, still working to get the LCL out of his hair as the lift doors opened on the small command centre from which the test had been monitored.

"Ah! Yo, Godzilla, get over here" Misato demanded out as he entered the room, waving him over to where she, Doctor Akagi and Lieutenant Ibuki were finishing up their simulation work.

'Godzilla' was a nickname Mistao had stuck on him after destroying half of Toyko 3 in his first exercise, to the simultaneous amusement and horror of everyone in the control room.

_It was a fitting title_ Shinij thought, still smiling inwardly at the memory.

"You're three for three Shinji; you really have some nice moves, you know" Akagi spoke up from behind her glasses, looking down her clipboard as she studied raw columns of numbers that were utter gibberish to anyone but her and her staff..

"Yeah that's what she said last night" Shinji smiled back with a jerk of his head towards Misato.

The poor Captain damn near sent the coffee she had been sipping back out over the very expensive equipment around her; an expression of shock and utter stunned amazement crashing onto her face as Shinji's casually offered comment echoed across the room.

Maya Ibuki's jaw dropped and she simply stared in astonishment at the rapidly redlining face of the Operations Director, before snapping her attention away to some random console, her own face starting to blush quite quickly. Doctor Akagi's eyes also snapped up at Shinji's declaration, but her expression instead mutated into one of amusement at the look on her old friends face, while technicians working to shut down their consoles around the room studiously pretended they hadn't heard a thing…but a sudden increase in the amount of general snickering strongly suggested their expressions of utter disinterest may have been sadly misleading.

"What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?!" Misato demanded as she chocked back her last sip of coffee and slammed the –mostly- empty glass onto the top of a nearby console, glaring across at her charge who somehow managed to keep an utterly nonchalant look on his face.

"You know, when we were playing that video game last night?"

A delightfully sheepish expression came across Misato's face to replace the anger as it melted away, her gaze darting across the other people in the room as if _daring _anyone to say anything.

The technicians, like most NERV staff, were highly educated people, the best in their fields.

Meaning they were smart enough to avoid eye contact with the Captain at all costs.

Doctor Akagi on the other hand simply smiled with a twitch of her face and shook her head. "You know…I think you two _are _just a perfect match for each other. I'll see you Monday afternoon Shinji"

"Yes Mam" he nodded. Agaki gave a final look at the still furiously crimson Misato, shook her head with a smile and headed out, the red faced Maya following right on her heals.

"Well come on" Misato growled, albeit with a touch of good humor, leading Shinji out in the other direction and onto a moving travel way that moved them across the expanse of central Dogma.

"So…are you still okay to stop by and see Rei?" Misato finally said after a few minutes of silence, bringing Shinji's still amused thought patterns to a screeching halt as he realized they were not heading for the locker rooms, but in fact _away_ from the Eva cages, deeper into the facility.

"What, now? Today?" Shinji asked, with no small amount of surprise in his voice. Doctor Akagi had been frustratingly keeping him away from Rei the whole of the week, saying her condition was too serious to allow "casual visitors"

_Yes…and I am sure she was just fine to pilot an Evangelion into combat, Doctor _he thought to himself.

Shinji couldn't help but think of Akagi in a decidedly negative light concerning Rei's safety; the image of Rei's 'sisters', laughing like children as they dissolved at her insane whim, the room turning red as the lights in the tanks of LCL were swamped by clouds of blood …

"Hai" Misato smiled, utterly oblivious to the thoughts crashing around Shinji's mind like loose objects inside an entry plug. "Ritsuko says she's almost ready to be released, she'll be back at school in a few days".

"Good to hear" Shinji said with utter sincerity. _I have so much to tell her…and so little time._

Rei Ayanami turned her head slightly, bringing her single uncovered eye into focus on the door to her small but functional room.

Although she didn't realize it, it was in fact the first conscious movement she had made in several hours.

It confused her slightly that she didn't know _why_ she had done this, until a few seconds later she heard faint footsteps coming to a halt outside her door.

Ah. This would probably be the nurse coming in for her late afternoon check, or possibly Doctor Akagi herself, given that it was the end of the week.

The door opened.

It was not Doctor Akagi.

Rei's interest level rose as the Third Child walked in, alone and unannounced, dressed in a blue and white plug suit. He stopped just inside the door and looked over at her, with an expression Rei couldn't easily decipher, especially with him silhouetted by the light from the corridor behind him.

"Is…is it okay if I come in?"

Rei blinked. No-one had ever _asked_ her if they could come into her room or not.

"Yes" she replied after a few seconds of thought.

She lost track of the Third Child as the door closed behind him, cutting off the light from the passage behind him, until he stepped out of the darkness and into the soft circle of light around her bed.

"Hello…Ayanami" Shinji said softly as he stopped at the side her bed, finding a convenient, tall chair against the wall which he pulled across next to her bed.

"You are the Third Child" she said in a soft voice, her single scarlet eye studying him calmly as he settled in next to her.

Shinji nodded. Rei looked quite a bit stronger then she had a week ago, when he had 'first' met her. The bandages she was still swathed in were no longer soaked with blood, and her skin was once again the almost luminescent white he recalled rather then the colorless grey she had been when his Father had ordered her into Unit One…

Even just the _memory_ of those events, the knowledge burned into his mind of the endless years of pain and suffering his Father had coldly inflicted on this unique, beautiful young woman lying before him…

Predictably, Rei noticed when his right hand tightened into a first.

"Is something wrong?" she asked softly, her single uncovered eye flicking to look at his hand for a brief second before her gaze shifted back. Shinji smiled with an expression that conveyed both amusement and embarrassment as he unclenched his hand and let the feelings fade away into nothing.

_One day Father, there will be a reckoning for all the lives you have destroyed. One day…_

"Not really" he said with a slow shake of his head. "I was just thinking about…the fist time I saw you".

Rei said nothing, simply continuing to stare at him.

"You…know who my Father is, don't you?"

She nodded.

"When I saw him, standing up there in the Evangelion cage…I was ready to walk out of this place and not look back" Shinji began, shifting in his seat slightly as he thought back to that day, Rei looking at him with the faintest expression of curiosity on her face. "He had not said two words to me in the past seven years …then I received a letter from him, with one word on it. 'Come'". Shinji's expression twitched at the memory of the terror he had felt when receiving _that_ letter, only the insistence of his Uncle to at least give his Father a chance getting him on the train to Tokyo 3…

"Well, he had 'found a use for me' after all, told me I had to pilot Unit One. Not that he cared in the slightest for me as a person…or thought I would make him proud or anything like that…I was just as a thing to him, a tool to be used".

Shinji noticed Rei's expression changed in the most subtle way few people would recognize, but she didn't interrupt him as he continued to talk.

"I told him…I told him, I wouldn't do it" Shinji continued, leaning back into his chair, glancing thoughtfully into the darkness beyond Rei's bed. "And…I didn't think there was anything that could have changed my mind, not after I remembered what that…thing…had done to my Mother".

Rei continued to study him without comment as Shinji reflected back on that day for probably the millionth time in the last week.

The silence between them endured for a good two minutes before Rei broke it.

"Why did you decide to pilot?" she asked finally. Shinji returned his gaze to Rei as she asked the question he had been waiting for.

"Because you would have been forced to pilot it in my place…and you would have died" he said.

Rei blinked.

"You chose to pilot Unit One to…protect…me" she replied slowly, as if though while understood the words coming out of his mouth, she was having a hard time grasping the idea behind them…

"I still do" Shinji replied.

"Then…when I am capable of piloting Unit Zero, you will leave?" she surmised.

"No" Shinji said with a shake of his head.

"I…do not understand" she admitted.

"I can't leave you to face the Angels on your own" he replied slowly. "I won't abandon you like my Father abandons anyone who isn't…useful to him" he continued, noting the flash in her uncovered eye at his comments about the Commander, but ignoring it. "I'll remain by your side through this war…until we finish it. One way, or the other".

Rei tilted her head slightly on the pillow. "Why?" she asked again.

Shinji looked up and met her gaze, the mask he had held over his feelings ever since he had 'come back' dropping for the second time, as he let himself show how deeply he cared about this young woman who had given him this chance…

"Because you are a unique person, worth protecting" he said simply, locking her gaze and letting the emotions he had kept tightly controlled, the depth of his feelings for this person who didn't know him in the slightest…for his friend, all come out.

Rei's eyes focused on those of the Third Child as he looked down at her. Once again, she felt that strange, familiar feeling as she looked into his gaze, finding herself unable -or perhaps unwilling- to break away, as he appeared unable to look away from her.

_Perhaps_, she thought to herself in the silence of her mind, _it is because so long as I look into his eyes…I can believe what he says to be the truth._

It was a…comfortable feeling she decided. Even if she knew, deep down, that she could be replaced by the Commander as easily as one could replaced a broken tool or an old computer...

Then he blinked, and looked away, breaking the hypnotic spell and causing Rei in turn to look away and blush ever so slightly, but pleased as the silence that followed, using the break in their conversation to savor the strange emotions that had flown through her, committing them to memory.

_It had not been,_ she decided, _an unpleasant experience_.

"Ayanami…may…may I visit you again?" he asked after several moments. Rei turned back, noting that he was blushing far more then she was and had directed his gaze at the foot of her bed.

"That…would be…agreeable" she decided after a short time. Shinji nodded and stood, walking slowly away, before he stopped and glanced back at the edge of the circle of light.

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that your life is not worth living Rei" he said softly, standing. "Not I, not my Father…not even you". Offering her an almost shy parting smile, the Third Child turned away, his footsteps receding until the door opened and then shut with a whir and hiss.

_My life…is worth living_…

Rei thought over that curious statement.

Long into the night.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHAAAYEEEEAHHHH! Now THAT'S the way to end the week, life just _doesn't_ get any better then THIS!" Captain Misato Katsaragi declared to Shinji, apartment 3-31 and probably every human being within 29.5 meters, slamming an empty can of beer down onto the table with enough force to partially crumple it.

In the kitchen, Shinji grinned to himself.

For the longest time when living with his Guardian, he had become increasingly convinced that Misato might be mildly schizophrenic. On one hand, there was this party animal who was becoming a legend throughout Tokyo 3's NERV community as a women who could –according to the rumors- drink more alcohol in less time then even the most optimistic MAGI projection stated a human could possibly live through. A women whose energy, exuberance and zest for life could never be conquered, brimming with the youthful energy of a 20 year old even if she was only just shy of 30 years old.

On the other hand, there was 'professional Misato' who could put aside her thoughts and send children into mortal combat, freely risking their lives against the good of mankind…or charge down special forces troops with nothing more then a sidearm, then happily blow their brains out after disarming them of their weapons.

The truth he had slowly learned was that Mistao was a person who, quite simply, was driven to push any facet of her character to extremes.

In her vendetta against the Angels, she had dedicated her entire life to an organization dedicated to destroying them.

In trying to find out the truth about NERV after Kaji's death, she had put aside just about everything and everyone else in her life, for better or worse, regardless of the consequences.

In her decision to become his legal guardian, she had perhaps not been the…ideal motherly role model...but in the end she had sacrificed her own life for his without so much as a second thought.

And when partying down, no human on Earth could chug a beer faster then Misato Katsaragi. He would stake every Yen he had exhorted from his father on that fact.

"Come on Shinji I'm starving!" Misato pleaded from the living room as Shinji vigorously stirred the soup and double checked the noodles he was working on. While he couldn't claim to match the cooking skills of Hikari Horaki, he _had_ become quite proficient at feeding for himself as neither of his alternatives of risking food poisoning or starving to death had really appealed to him. Getting Misato to leave all the cooking to him had been his first major goal after moving into the apartment, a task made rather easy given that on the second night, he had cooked her favorite meal flawlessly, without any prompting.

"Coming!" he yelled back as he shut down the stove, removing the Raman components from the heat before mixing out generous proportions into a pair of bowls. Carefully lifting them, he eased out of the kitchen, past Pen Pen who was happily wolfing down the lightly seasoned Tuna Shinji had cooked for him earlier and into the living room.

Misato was kneeling at the table in the living room, licking her lips in pleasure at the orders wafting in from the kitchen. She had changed out of her rather severe NERV uniform and into the yellow shirt and denim shorts she typically wore around the house when not expecting company, her hair pulled back into an equally casual pony tail that made her look ten years younger…

On the other hand, perhaps it was the carefree –and tipsy- smile on her face. Amazing how easily she shifted into the 'big sister' Misato from the 'Operations Director' Misato…

"Ohhhh that smells wonderful" she breathed as Shinji carefully placed her portion down followed by his own. Smiling, she cracked open a second beer with practiced ease as she hunted around the table for, and found, some kind of high yield chilly additive which she liberally sprinkled into her meal before moving it towards his own bowl. "Do you want-"

"No!" Shinji yelped in alarm, pulling his own helping out of the danger zone. Misato just stuck her tongue out and placed the additive back onto the table.

"Don't be such a baby Shinji" she laughed, grabbing her chopsticks and stirring the thick 'sludge' of her sauce into the soup. "This stuff makes it taste great!"

_Yeah and Second Impact was just a slight weather pattern shift _Shinji thought, recalling when Misato, in a fit of laziness, had fed Pen Pen some of her own 'special' Raman mix after forgetting his dinner.

He had always wondered after that day what a Penguin saw, while having an acid trip…

"So you've got a whole weekend off!" she declared in between shoveling food into her mouth. "Wha…what're gona do?"

"Well first we've got to get your car in for repairs" he declared. "I've already paid for the service and it should-"

"WHA?" she demanded in surprise, slamming her new beer down as she came dangerously close to choking on the noodles she had been slurping. "When did THIS happen?"

"Well its only three days until the end of the month" Shinji smiled sheepishly, "and the Vice Commander was kind enough to pay me today as if I had been here the whole month, which ends on Tuesday…is that okay?" he asked with a slight hint of uncertainty…

"I…it's…bah!" she gave up, reaching over to give him a hug. "That's so sweet!"

"It's uh the least I can do, given that you got it scuffed up saving my life" he pointed out as she leaned back, her smile even broader then it had been. "And then I have to go and visit Rei some time tomorrow".

"Visit her _again_?" she asked, her grin impossibly becoming even broader. "Ahhh I see; little Shinji has fallen in _looove"_

"No no it's not like that!" Shini spluttered, his composure evaporating in an instant at the comment from his guardian, who all but giggled at his burning face.

"Oh I think it _is _like that! You and Rei make such a perfect couple, I should have Ritisiko order matching plug suits and –wah!" Misatos teasing was cut off as the cushion Shinji had sent flying at her impacted a glancing blow on her face, spinning off to the side.

"Welllll, looks like I struck a nerve" she grinned, then her face fell slightly as she saw the expression on his face. "Sorry Shinji-kun, I didn't mean to-"

"No no its alright Misato" he replied with a reassuring smile. "It's just that…she's all alone in that room all day…I don't think anyone comes to visit her".

"I think the Commander goes in to see her every day" Misato reflected thoughtfully.

"Apart from him" Shinji growled, his voice dropping an octave at the mention of his Father.

"Hmm. It _would_ be nice of you to go and see her" Misato smiled. _What a kid _she thought, then erased that thought with a mental shake of her head. _No, he stopped being a kid the second he stepped into Unit One to protect Rei_, her opinion of Shinji rising yet another notch as he started on his own food. "You might want to take her some flowers" she suggested, "brighten up the room…some roses?" she grinned.

("Red…the color I hate…the color of blood"-)

"No I was thinking of daisies, something to brighten up the room a little for her…its…rather depressing in its current state".

"Well it makes sense, you're both pilots after all" Misato said, the 'Operations Manager' appearing for a second, "so you should get to know each other outside of work if possible". The operations manager then vanished and the 'guardian' reappeared. "And…I don't know if she really has any friends. It would be nice if you could get her to open up a little".

"I'll drink to that" he nodded, then reached for a spare beer can to complete his promise, only to have Misato's first come crashing down between his hand and its goal.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she demanded, "You're fourteen!"

"Oh fine" Shinji grumbled. Not that he wanted to really drink beer, but Misato was oh so cute when she insisted only she had the right to destroy her liver in this house.

"Anyway, then I need to go and get some things for school, then I should grab some food for the week…so is there anything you really want this week?"

Much, _much_ later in the evening when Misato had collapsed into her bed from a mixture of exhaustion and a six-pack, though Shinji guessed those drinks had had only a minor effect on a women who could down half a bottle of vodka and not go into a coma, Shinji stepped out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, sighing in pleasure at the tired ache through his body.

It was a good feeling he decided, the kind that let you know you could expect a long, peaceful sleep, having achieved real, measurable progress. Sighing contently, he dried off and changed into a t-shirt and shorts before brushing his teeth, switching off the light and walking down the dark corridor to his 'lovely suite'…then stopping as his gaze fell on the open door to the empty room, just down from his own.

God he missed Asuka.

It was almost funny in a way. How many times he had begged someone –anyone- to get her out of this house. Everything had been so peaceful, mostly, before she had moved in. Predictable.

Happy.

Sane.

Then the Second Child had arrived, bringing with her conflict, friction and more then a few painful contusions to his head as she continually let him know _exactly_ what she thought of him as an Eva Pilot, a man and a human

All of it a giant lie to shield the four year old girl desperately hiding deep behind the moats, minefields and electrified fences she had placed around her heart.

The heart of the person…of the woman he could finally admit to himself he might well have fallen in love with.

And then abandoned to die at the hands of SEELE.

But now…now he had the greatest chance a person could ever dream of; to start over and _make_ _it_ _right_.

But it would be four months until she arrived from Germany. Four months without her molten fire, without her passion and even her smug confidence in the eventual victory of humanity over the Angels…

_What are you, stupid? Asuka will be along when she _gets_ along and _you_ have far too much to do to start moping around like the old Baka Shinji! Get into bed Third Child and get some rest; you have work to do tomorrow!"_

The thought that exploded onto his consciousness -from nowhere- sounded so _exactly_ like Asuka that Shinji glanced around the hallway in a half panic as he wondered, against all logic, if the Second Child had somehow managed to pull off a personal appearance to taunt him as Lilith had done.

No, the room was just as dark and empty as it had been a second ago…but deciding _not_ to tempt fate, just in case, he stepped through the door to his room, shut it behind him, went to bed and fell to sleep. Fast.

Skyfall was one of the most exclusive 'hot spots' in Japan.

A multi story complex situated in one of Tokyo-3's 'real' skyscrapers –that is, one not filled with state of the art military hardware- it was comprised of a bistro / buffet on its highest level followed by a casual coffee shop / lounge, a multi story night club and finally three different high class formal restaurants, catering to three differing menus and food types from all around the world.

The staff were, without exception, friendly, utterly professional and utterly appropriate. From the casual, easy going hospitality staff in the night club to the perfectly smooth silver service of one of the 5 star restaurants, the average visitor tipped heavily in favor of the utterly phenomenal service provided and was privately considered one of the major draw cards of the place.

Of course, the attraction of Skyfall may also have had something to do with the view, being the only entertainment complex in the basement of a building to hang 800 meters above ground level.

Doctor Ritsuko Akagi had long since grown tired of the novelty of the view. She came for the service and for a quiet place to think. While the majority of patronage of Skyfall was made up of NERV personnel, few came here for a simple coffee given that NERV was replete with caffeinated beverage dispensers at a much cheaper price. But on the weekends when she wasn't due in at work for any major events, the Doctor liked to sit alone for an hour or so in the morning, by the huge floor to ceiling windows and look over the morning light playing in the Geofront –with a rather expensive Italian coffee- and simply enjoy an hour or so of peace and quiet.

Well at least such went her theory.

"Hi Ritsuko!" an all too cheerful voice called out from behind her, breaking into her silent contemplation. Ritsuko turned to face Misato Katsaragi as she all but bounded into the lounge towards her, a somewhat implacable look on her face as she approached.

_Well I couldn't put this off forever_ she sighed, putting her cup of coffee down as the Director of Operations flopped into a thickly padded lounge chair beside her without so much as a 'by your leave'.

"I used to like weekends" Misato pouted after a few seconds of silence, a sigh on her face as she idly watched a train in the distance ascending towards the surface. "Now its just work work work. I never knew an Angel attack could cause paperwork to multiply like it does…if it wasn't for the help of the MAGI, I think I'd happily jump right out this window right now".

"Hmm" Ritsuko said in a non committal tone, leaning back. "Still, it's unusual to see _you_ up so early on a Saturday…I take from the lack of a hang over you didn't take Shinji clubbing last night?"

Misato shot her a somewhat amused glare as she turned away from the view.

"Funny. But he _is_ actually the person I wanted to talk to you about".

"I don't suppose I could convince you that you might _not_ want to know about this?" Ritsuko asked with a raised eyebrow, running a hand through her bright blond hair. "Secrets are great weights carried on your shoulders Misato…a never ending pressure that can't be taken away, no matter how much you might desperately want to be rid of it later".

"And how much weight do you carry, Rits?" Misato quietly asked after a few seconds consideration. Ritsuko appeared to consider the question meeting her gaze for the first time, striking Misato for a fraction of a second by just how…tired she looked, before with a blink, the visage was somehow replaced by her friends' usual wry smile.

"Enough to know you'll not be satisfied until you get an answer" she said dryly, picking up the coffee for a quick sip to marshal her thoughts.

"It all happened back oh…it must have been eleven years ago now" she started. Ritsuko hadn't been there herself, but her Mothers letters had filled in the details for her…including details that had never made it into any official report filed with either GEHIRN or SEELE. "Unit One was used for the first, full power synchronization test of the neural interface technology".

"With Shinji's mother as the pilot" Misato hazarded a guess. Ritsuko nodded.

"Yes…it was the first time the team had gone this far. Unit Zero, the prototype, was still being used as something of a test bed for the fundamental technology, allowing us to perfect it, and then build it into Unit One for advanced testing. Yui had brought Shinji in to watch this first full powered test, so 'show him' the future she was building".

"But something went wrong" Misato said with a hint of impatience, clearly not caring one wit about the history or purpose of the Evangelions.

And for that, Ritsuko Akagi could only envy her, nodding slowly.

"When Yui started to Synchronize, we hadn't developed a lot of the protective systems we've since included, that protect the pilots mind from being drawn too deep into the connection. When the third level connection was initiated..." she trailed off, glancing away in thought.

"Yes?" Misato prodded after the moment dragged uncomfortably. Ritsuko wrestled with the novel concept of telling the _whole_ truth to her oldest friend, before sanity returned and she refocused her attention with a sigh.

"When the connection was initiated, Yui's synch ratio shot right past one hundred in seconds".

"I guess the talent runs in _that_ family runs on the mother's side" Misato muttered.

Akagi smiled thinly.

"It had _nothing_ to do with talent, Misato, and everything to do with the Evangelion. You see, without the protective barriers we've since built, the Evangelion, for lack of a better word, kept 'pulling' at her mind. Once you reach a Synch level of one hundred, you're effectively perfectly melding your mind with the Evangelions" Ritsuko lectured, as if talking to a junior member of her science staff. "The further you go _over _that limit, the greater the risk of mental contamination. Shinji's mother reached a level of over _four_ _hundred_ in fifteen seconds, her mind couldn't handle the stress and her ego borderline collapsed. Her body was reduced to a primordial soup in short; she ceased to exist".

Misato didn't know what chilled her more. The story itself of how Shinji had been watching from some control room as his mother dissolved before his eyes, or the utterly clam and detached way her friend recited the story.

Then a sudden connection flared into her mind and her eyes widened.

"And the same thing happened to Asuka's mother" Misato breathed in astonishment and amazement as the connection 'clicked' in her head, _how in the _hell_ had they let it happen _again_…_

The blond across from her raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "The Third Branch took the data from the failed synchronization test and used it to refine their theories and designs. Unit Two was far less complete then Units Zero and One, but they _had_ completed what they needed to run a full scale test and-".

"And they just _let _her get in that thing, after what happened to Shinji's Mother?!" Misato spluttered out loud with real anger in her voice. Akagi narrowed her eyes and glanced towards the nearest people in the lounge as a warning. Section 2 swept Skyfall randomly on a day by day basis for bugs, but that wouldn't stop people nearby from overhearing things they shouldn't. Ritsuko took a long sip of her coffee as she waited for Misato to regain her composure, before continuing her narrative.

"They didn't just 'let' her get in" Ritsuko replied calmly. "Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu was a brilliant scientist, she was confident that they had developed an enhanced system to stop what happened to Yui from happening again, while keeping the possibility of a one to one ratio...but it was only partially successful. She didn't have her mind…completely destroyed like Yui, but…"

Misato didn't need the rest of the details. She had read all the reports of the insanity of Asuka's mother several times during her sojourn with the Third Branch.

"Anyway" Ritsuko continued, draining the last of her coffee, "from both events we were able to design a system that makes it extremely unlikely that these kinds of events will be repeated, but the downside is that it becomes increasingly hard for pilots to push their synchronization ratios towards the one hundred level, hence the constant need for Synch tests, and why Shinji's ability is so surprising".

"And who precisely tested the new, final system?" The Doctor shrugged.

"Rei did, after years of lower level testing".

"So Rei is expandable as well now, is she?" Misato scoffed.

_Of course she is_ Ritsuko said in the silence of her mind.

"Of course she isn't" Ritsuko replied to Misato. "Remember, I was _your_ age at this point, I wasn't even working for GEHIRN then"

"I see" the Captain said with a nod, the anger still there, but fading. She couldn't blame her friend for these events, as much as she wanted to lash out at someone.

She hadn't even _been _there after all.

"So when Shinji said that he thought-"

"-he sensed his mother?" Ritsuko finished the thought with a slight smile to hide the fear in her heart.

_If Shinji –or Asuka- ever find out the truth about the Evangelions_…

"Its pure wistfulness on his part" the Doctor lied through her teeth. "Dangerous if he takes it too far…but for now, harmless, just…keep an eye on him". Standing up, Ritsuko stretched and smoothed out her lab coat. "I will see you later Captain" Ritsuko said with a slight smile before she got up and walked towards the elevator.

Misato let her go, her cheerful morning mood already slightly soured.

_Rits was right _she sighed. _This weight sucks._

Shinji hummed to himself as he exited the lift deep inside Central Dogma. Even on a weekend, NERV did not come _close_ to shutting down especially now that the clock was running against the Angels, but as a pilot, he had always been left strictly alone on the weekends and had rarely found any need to venture into NERV as a result.

Well short of an Angel attacking anyway. At least the damn things generally attacked during business hours.

So he had more then a few surprised looks shot his way by NERV personnel as he strode through the titanic complex, dressed casually in some new clothes he had brought earlier this morning after Misato had dropped her car off at the repair shop.

It meant he wasn't exactly incognito when he walked around the base in jeans and a T-Shirt…if a 14 year old boy walking around a highly classified military base could be said be fit in. Especially carrying a huge bouquet of bright yellow flowers _and_ humming to himself.

He found his way to the hospital easily enough, and then frowned when he saw the door to Rei's room was open, slowing down to halt well short of it as he considered this sudden snag, milling over the possibilities.

She could have been released or moved or simply be out of her room.

She might have a hospital visitor, a nurse or Doctor, no real problem there.

Or it was possible she may have another personal visitor…and the thought of the most probable person to fill that role almost made him start shivering.

As quietly as he could, he eased closer to the room, his ears straining to pick up even the faintest sound…

"So, you understand?" Shinji's blood turned to ice in sympathy with the cold, blunt statement that carried ever so faintly into the corridor.

_That _voice he would never forget.

"Yes Sir" Rei's calm, soft voice came back.

"Good. You will return to your apartment by tomorrow and resume your school functions as necessary. We may need to accelerate your recovery profile, as well as Unit Zero's reactivation now that the Angels have returned. There is an acceptable risk of further damage, but we must be prepared".

"Yes Sir" Rei calmly agreed again, causing a spark of anger to ignite and start to eat away at the paralyzing fear that had frozen his feet to the floor. Who in the _hell_ was his Father to talk so casually about inflicting such suffering onto a human being-  
"Shinji?" a voice broke into his thoughts without warning.

If not for the fact that just _hearing _his Fathers voice had locked every single muscle on his body into place, something he considered an improvement from turning and running until he collapsed, Shinji probably would have jumped through the roof right then and there.

Instead, he closed his eyes and counted to three, then turned to face a surprised looking Vice Commander, taking a deep breath as he forced something approaching a smile onto his face at the elderly mans presence, his brown NERV uniform as impeccable as always.

"Vice Commander" Shinji acknowledged the man with a slight, but respectful bow.

Not that he exactly _had_ much in the way of respect for his Fathers most loyal backer and confidant.

"I have to admit my surprise to seeing you down here this morning" the elderly man commented, crossing his arms as he came to a stop.

"I uh wanted to bring these to...pilot Ayanami" Shinji caught himself before calling Rei by her first name, trying to force the stutter out of his voice, pausing a half second to regain his composure before plunging on. "We had a long talk yesterday, about the Evangelions, NERV, combat tactics, piloting…" he said letting his voice trail off vaguely, feeling his nervousness rising as the conversation continued behind him. "Her room was so…sterile, I wanted to brighten it up a little" Shinji said with a slight smile.

A furrow mutated into a slight frown of Fuyutsuki's face at this admission.

"Well I can't see the harm in that…" the Vice Commander said slowly. "It's a smart idea to establish a good working relationship with your fellow pilot, but I don't think your Father would…appreciate…any confusing entanglements-"

"Oh, nothing like _that_, Sir" Shinji said quickly, finding a dark amusement in the Vice Commanders uncomfortable look at the idea of him and Rei forming any kind of 'entanglement'.

Though he could completely understand why the junior Commander might find the idea disturbing given the 'genetic similarity' between his and Rei's genomes…

"Good" Fuyutsuki said briskly, and then his eyes flickered behind him and focused on someone else. "Well if you'll excuse me" and not waiting for a response, he hurried down the corridor.

Setting his face, Shinji turned to follow him with his gaze, watching the back of his Father recede steadily at a brisk pace, soon joined by Fuyutsuki, the two most powerful men in NERV turning a corner to vanish in seconds.

Shinji didn't know if he should be pleased or disappointed that his Father had not even acknowledged his presence.

Shaking his head once, he stepped up to the doorway, reaching to knock and stopping in some surprise at the brightly lit room.

Rei was out of her bed, adjusted the bandages on her arm in silence. From the way she was standing, Shinji guessed her back had been to the door from, but he wasn't very surprised to see her gaze locked onto him, as if she had been tracking him prior to coming around the doorway.

"Good…good morning Ayanami" he said.

"Pilot Ikari" she acknowledged his presence.

"May…I come in?" he asked hesitantly, an irrational thought that his Father had instructed her to sever all contact with him flashing across his mind.

"Yes" she nodded, finishing her adjustments and relaxing her arm into the sling with a slight sigh before turning to face him fully. "You may".

Shinji stepped inside, noting the room had been cleaned out of the equipment here yesterday. In fact now that he thought about it, even the bedding was gone, which meant-

"You've been released?" he guessed in some surprise. Rei nodded and Shinji finally noticed she was dressed in her school uniform.

"Yes. I will be leaving now" Rei said, leaning over with a slight wince to reach for a plastic bag full of medical supplies.

Shinji was in motion almost before he realized it, hurrying over to steady Rei as she gasped, if only slightly, in pain, guiding her back to a standing position before he reached down and hefted the bag himself.

"I, uh, can carry this for you" he muttered nervously as he straightened up, finding himself suddenly at point blank range to his fellow Eva plot…and that single crimson eye that could see right through him. Rei nodded, then her eye flickered to the flowers in his other hand.

"Oh uh…I brought these for you…to brighten up this room a little" he said, a feeling of embarrassment increasing steadily as Rei continued to direct her level stare at him.

"I am no longer in this room. I can no longer accept the flowers" she finally pointed out. Was that _disappointment _in her voice? No, he must be imagining it.

"Well yes…but we can put them inside your house, instead" Shinji pointed out.

Rei angled her head slightly as if considering it, then nodded. "That would be acceptable" she decided, heading for the door without any further words, Shinji following.

They got more then one double take from NERV personnel as made their way through the base. Rei characteristically either didn't notice the attention or didn't care. Shinji on the other hand couldn't help but laugh silently at the astounded expressions on their faces.

He had to admit, Rei Ayanami being followed by a boy her own age with flowers was probably not something many of them had seen before. Makoto Hyuga getting off the elevator they had been waiting for walked exactly five steps, his face buried in some printout before stopping dead and slowly turning around.

The look on his face as the doors closed was priceless.

It was sixty seconds into the endless elevator trip to the surface before the rather pleasant silence Shinji was enjoying was broken.

"Why did you come today?" Rei finally asked, though she didn't turn from her contemplation of the elevator doors.

"Because I wanted to see you" he shrugged.

"Why?" she asked again at the non answer.

"You…looked lonely yesterday".

Rei finally turned around at that statement, curiosity in her expression.

"Loneliness" she echoed.

Shinji nodded. "You hate being alone, don't you?" he guessed from a memory that may or may not have been Rei's, buried deep in his mind. "To be one among many, but not accepted by the many". Rei's expression didn't change, but somehow Shinji felt a shift in her, that he had gained her full attention.

"I do not understand" she replied, almost by rout.

"It's like…" Shinji struggled to put his feelings into words… "If you refuse to get close to others, you can never be betrayed by them. Never be hurt by them".

"Yes" she agreed with a nod.

"But to _do_ so is to reject any possibility of understanding love, friendship, companionship…" he let his voice trail off. "And without these things, you will forever be lonely, you will never be able to forget this when you see other people together. Unless you can understand that your life has a purpose that makes people think this way towards you".

"Unless you can accept that you are worth something…to someone" Rei stated, causing Shinji to smile, nodding at her.

"Do you…find value in me?" Rei asked.

"Yes" he replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Why?" she asked yet again.

He answered her question with one of his own. "Why do you pilot your Eva?"

Rei considered her answer.

"Because I am bonded to it".

"Bonded?"

"It is a bond…to all people" she explained.

"You pilot to protect people, from the Angels".

"Yes"

"Regardless of the risk to yourself".  
Rei shrugged ever so slightly.

"If I die, I can be replaced".

"_DON'T_ say that!"

Rei was more then a little startled at the sudden emotional outburst from Pilot Ikari at the statement she found relatively unambiguous, but he calmed down, stepping slightly closer with an earnest look on his face.

"Rei, you _cannot_ be replaced. You are a unique individual".

Rei simply stared at him. Shinji knew she wasn't being rude, exactly, but as he wasn't supposed to know about the 'spare copies' of her body, she couldn't explain the denial in her eyes…so Shinji decided to push.

"Let me ask you Rei. If you died today and a replacement pilot arrived, would she be identical to you?"

Silence.

Shinji pressed on earnestly, feeling the opportunity slipping away and grabbing at it like a drowning man reached for a rope.

"Would she have _every _memory of yours _exactly _the same?" he challenged the silent pilot across from him. "Would she have _every _scar? _Every _mark on her skin? _Every_ hair the same as yours? Would she _think _in _exactly_ the same way?"

Rei's thoughts turned inwards at this strange concept being put to her.

Honesty forced her to asses the concepts presented by Shinji. When she had…replaced, her previous 'sister', she _had_ recalled many of her memories.

But they were hazy recollections of a past that was not hers.

She _looked_ similar to her.

But there were clear and distinct differences between them.

_I…am I _she thought to herself, then repeated it again.

_I am I. _

_I am I_

_Not her._

Perhaps twenty seconds had past before her head moved millimeters to focus back on Shinji.

"No" she replied honestly…and she found the realization troubling.

The door opened as the elevator finally reached the surface, allowing them to exit the building in silence.

There was a car waiting, a standard issue black sedan with NERV written in big, unsubtle, bold lettering and a standard issue big burly guy in a black suit with sun glasses, who opened the door for Rei.

She strapped herself in with his help, then Shinji passed over her supplies, which she placed on the seat next to him, as her driver got back inside.

"Well…uh, I guess these are for you" he said shyly, passing over the flowers which she took, with only slight hesitation. "I guess…I'll see you at school soon".

"Yes..." she agreed, with a strange expression, holding the flowers gently with her free hand.

The cars engine started and Shinji stepped away, closing the door, then with a hum of its electric engine it pulled away for the nearby car train station.

"Thank you" Rei said softly in the back seat.

She was alone…but suddenly; she realized she didn't feel quite so lonely.

Second Impact had definitely been one of the more cataclysmic events in the recorded history of the human species. Fully half the world's population had been wiped out by the enormous forces unleashed both in Antarctica and in the aftermath as humanity suddenly found its comfortable inertia rudely interrupted, lashing out at each other over the suddenly scarce resources they had assumed would always be there.

The UN, formerly a simple world forum with delusions of power was, in half a decade turned into a powerful body with delusions that it was a world forum as SEELE moved the pieces on its chess board patiently, taking control behind the scenes to divert the resources they needed to GEHIRN and then NERV and the Human Instrumentality Project. Yet for all their influence, there were some things that even _they _could not change in human society.

Such as the fact that the vast majority of humans still loathed Mondays.

And Shinji too was not looking forward to today either.

Around him, dozens of students continued to pour into the grounds, mostly laughing and shouting greetings as they discussed what they had done over the long weekend they had been gifted thanks to the Angel attack, discussing the latest gossip over about the latest romance.

And not more then a few that talked about 'this friend' or 'that classmate' who had been evacuated from Tokyo 3 by their parents.

Sighing as the bell rang its musical tone and the students all started to move indoors with haste, Shinji fell in and made his way to classroom on autopilot, seeing so many of the familiar faces before stopping at the door.

He decided then and there it would probably better _not _to let everyone know he was an Evangelion pilot this time around. It would be nice to just get treated as a _normal _kid, for once…

The classroom was almost full, with only Shinji and a few Stragglers left to arrive as he reached the door, most people still standing around and gossiping freely .Only about a third were sitting at their desks, despite the fact that the bell had rung which wasn't exactly unusual for a Monday, with everyone still trying to catch up with each other.

One exception was, of course, Hikari Horaki, who was sitting at her usual seat right next to the door, clearly mentally counting down the remaining seconds until she unleashed the firepower of her infamous glower to get everyone into their seats.

Shinji took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

"Uh excuse me…" he said as he stopped just inside, causing Hikari and the gaggle of girls around her to look up. One whispered something into another's ear causing a fit of giggling to start and Shinji had to work to keep his face from burning up.

"Yes?" Hikari asked pleasantly after scowling her friends into something approaching silence.

"Uh my name is Shinji Ikiri, I'm-"

"Oh right!" she said in sudden recognition. "You're the new transfer student!" she declared, standing up with a smile. "It's good to have someone transferring in rather then out for a change" she sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Well there is a spare desk over here and if-"

"IT'S HIM! HE'S THE PILOT OF THAT ROBOT!"

Every conversation, every laugh, every noise in the classroom stopped as if a switch had been thrown and every pair of eyes turned to glance first at him, then Toji Suzuhara who had leapt to his feet at the back of the room, pointing directly at him with a look of shock on his face. Oh yeah, he had forgotten Toji and his sister had no doubt seen him getting out of Unit One...

_Well that was a nice fifteen seconds being treated as a normal kid _Shinji sighed to himself as every person in the classroom charged forward at one.

"Really, Oh, wow!"-

"Cool!"-

"How were you chosen-"

"Were there any tests-"

"Weren't you scared-"

"What was it like when-"

"What's the cockpit look like-"

"That is SO cool-"

"Does it have any big guns-"

"Can it, like, transform-"

"What's its name-"

Shinji tried to start stuttering out some answers, but was saved by a surprisingly strong pair of hands which yanked him out of the pack as Hikari pulled him clear then turned on the class with a glare that would have had Asuka beaming in pride of her friend if she had been present.

"All of you, BACK TO YOUR SEATS! NOW!" she ordered, causing even the most excited fanboy –that position being currently filled by Kensuke who did remain in his seat but was furiously typing away- to back off and return to their desks, all of them still talking to each other in excitement and glancing at him. Toji Shinji noticed, was not looking at him at all, but staring at his desk with a stunned expression on his face as if his shouted revelation had taken all his energy.

Luckily, the Teacher chose that moment to enter, putting paid to any further conversations. Shinji very carefully stayed _out _of the various chat rooms the students frequented during the long boring lesson, thinking about the next Angel attack, which was due just over a week from today from memory, steeling occasional glances at an empty desk by the window.

Finally, the recess bell rung and the students all got up. Some went running for the door, no doubt to set the schools rumor mill into hyperdrive, others turned towards him. Shinji opened his mouth to beg for some space, when a voice sounded from right behind him.

"Hey, new Kid".

Wincing slightly at the tone, Shinji took a deep breath and turned around to see Toji standing right behind him, his fists balled at his side with Kensuke right behind him, looking like…well… Kensuke normally did when he found out anything about the Evangelion program.

"Uh yes?" Shinji said, trying but not entirely able to keep the slight quiver out of his voice.

Toji stared at him for several long seconds…then his head came crashing down.

Shinji winced in reflex, his mind already bracing for the stinging ache of the fist he knew was coming…then frowned and cleared his eyes when he realized several seconds later that no such fist had impacted.

Toji was _bowing _to him.

"You saved the life of my Sister-"

"-and yourself" Kensuke pointed out with a smirk, receiving a sideways glare in return.

"-and myself" Toji admitted grudgingly, before pressing on, "when you stopped that things explosion from killing us both. We both owe you a debt of honor for this!" he declared loudly, before snapping back into a ramrod straight posture.

Shinji's mind flew in little concentric circles for a good five seconds as he tried to think of something to say, before he took a deep breath and stood up.

"It's okay, really! I'm just glad I saw both of you in time"

A new burst of background noise erupted as Shinji admitted who he was, causing more people to run for the door and update the rumor mill.

"Uh can we go somewhere to talk?"

Toji nodded in agreement and quickly led Shinji out from the buildings, to a portion of the school yard relatively void of people, most of them from much younger years.

"Look, you don't owe me anything" Shinji said calmly but firmly as soon as they stopped walking, sitting down on a convenient bench. "I chose to pilot to Evangelion to _protect_ people from the Angel, you and your sister among them".

"Uh I guess" Toji said, with an uncomfortable look on his face. "I just owe you a big one…I mean…"

"I could use a friend or two…I…I don't really know anyone around here" Shinji asked in a small voice, desperately hoping that-

"All right! Sure! We can be great friends Shinji!" Kensuke nodded enthusiastically.

Toji's somewhat formal face finally broke, and he smiled with a nod, causing Shinji to offer a smile, a genuine real smile from the core of his being in return.

"TOOJIII" a young and indignant female voice suddenly cut in, a pointed finger stabbing into Suzuhara's back in a blur of motion, with enough force to almost topple him from the column he had been leaning against.

Kana Suzuhara was one of _very _few people who could push her elder brother around without any fear of retribution. It had in fact been this young girl who had –verbally- beaten her brother silly after she had found out Toji had slugged the pilot of the 'Robot' that had saved her life, guilt tripping him so professionally that Toji had come to Shinji a matter of days later to beg him to punch him back, that being the only way to assuage the guilt Kana had slammed him with.

He knew despite appearances that Toji utterly adored his younger sister as much as she looked up to her older brother and something deep inside Shinji was moved to utter joy to see her walking around like a girl her age _should _be walking about

Instead of in the hospital learning to walk again.

"Aweee come on Kana" Toji protested at the glare from the younger sibling, looking helplessly for support from Kensuke. "Dad and Grandad have been too busy to go to the store, I didn't have time last night to make…"

The glare from his sister remained constant as his voice trailed off.

"Look I'll buy you some lunch today, don't worry!" Toji promised.

Kana sighed and dropped the anger with a smile.

"Okay. But this is the last time!" she pouted.

"I sware, I sware!" Toji said with a somewhat silly bow, getting a snicker, then a smile in return. Clearly his sister couldn't stay mad at him.

"Now _that's_ a housebroken man" Kensuke declared with a laugh of his own, albeit from a range safely beyond Toji's fists. The jocks head turned malevolently at the comment, but paused as his gaze passed over Shinji, a slight smile coming across it. "Kana, I think there is someone here you might want to meet" Toji beamed, directing his sisters curious gaze to Shinji. She stared at him for a few seconds before her eyes suddenly widened and she jumped across to grab the surprised Third Child in a tight hug, kissing him quickly on his cheek.

"You're the one who saved use from that thing!" she said in a choked up voice, hugging him tightly. "ThankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!" she declared, the befuddled Shinji's eyes pleading for help from the two other men, both of whom were grinning at his flushing features. Swallowing, he slowly brought his arms up and gently hugged her back.

"Its okay…its okay…" he said softly, before gently prying her arms loose and getting some distance. "I'm just glad you and your brother are fine".

"Who said he was _fine_? He's a dumb Jock after all" she retorted with a shake of her hair.

Shinji stared at her for a few seconds…then burst out laughing, joined by Kana, then Kensuke and finally even Toji himself.

_No_ he decided, _this time around isn't half bad after all_.


	6. Shamshel

"Yo Ikari, wake _up_!"

Shinji snapped out of the doze he had fallen into during one of the inevitable lectures about second impact. To his surprise, between blinks, the classroom had changed; most of the students were standing and heading for the door in a massive tangle of people, the few remaining either snoring away without a car in the world, or packing up.

"It's recess already?" Shinji asked in surprise as his mind returned to the here and now from a strange daydream where Misato screamed at him, demanding that he get out of bed and make her breakfast, while repeatedly hitting him over the head with a wiffle bat shaped like a progressive knife…

Man, his mind was_really _screwed up today…but he could easily guess why.

Company was coming to lunch.

"Yeah, it's no biggie, you didn't miss anything" Toji replied to his question, shrugging and leaning back to thump his feet down on the back of the desk in front of him. "Just Sensei going on and on and on about Second Impact".

"Yeah, why do we have to hear the same thing about Second Impact, day in and day out" Kensuke asked the universe in protest, swinging his camera out the window to zoom in on some especially good looking girls as they exited the building. "I could recite every fact about the whole thing in my sleep".

_Well, you could recite the publicly sanitized version _Shinji thought to himself, keeping his expression neutral as he stood, glancing at his watch.

Fifteen minutes.

"You coming?" Toji demanded of Kensuke as he crashed his own chair forward and stood.

"Are you kidding" Kensuke retorted, leaning half out the window as if trying to zoom just that much closer down at a group of girls from the year ahead of them. "This is the best seat in the house!"

"Pah, you chase after them" Toji said with a roll of his eyes, before his face went dreamy. "Misato is the only one for me…" he sighed, causing Shinji to almost roll his eyes.

_That _hadn't changed at least, his two friends damn near drooling all over the floor when they had walked him home yesterday to meet NERV's operations director for the first time, dressed in only her casual 'short' shots, top and giddy smile that had indicated she was probably already slightly tipsy.

"Eh, you've got no chance; Shinji has her wrapped around his finger" Kensuke bemoaned, his attention still focused on the yard – at least until one of Shinji's books collided with his head. "Ugh! I take it back!"

"I'll catch you later" Shinji smirked, stepping out of the room with Toji behind him.

"Man I am so hungry" Toji sighed, "I need something to eat, fast!"

"You _always_ need something to eat" Shinji retorted as they walked down the corridor.

"Hey, I'm a growing man, mister scrawny!" Toji protested…then his expression mutated into one somewhat more sheepish. "And besides, uh, Kana took my lunch this morning when I didn't make hers".

Snickering back with a shake of his head at Toji's complete ineptitude at being able to feed either himself or his sister, Shinji searched the faces moving around the crowded corridor, ignoring the majority that stared at him with a mixture of curiosity and mild awe in his effort to find one in particular. "Say…did you see where Ayanami went?"

"Rei?" Toji asked in some surprise, blinking at the odd question. The mysterious girl had come back to school yesterday after a long absence. No-one knew where she had vanished to, only that she was now covered in bandages and appeared as disinclined as ever to talk about anything.

At least if you didn't know what to look for.

To Shinji's hidden delight however while Rei had sat looking out the window all day yesterday as per normal, she had not done so with her 'standard issue' blank expression, but with a look of confusion and deep thought stuck on her face.

Very few people would be able to tell the difference, but to Shinji, it stood out as clearly as Unit One in a lineup next to his uncle's garden gnomes.

He had rarely seen Rei with that expression on her face, certainly at least not for many many months into the 'future' after she had started to ever so slowly open up to him, bringing back a memory from his previous school.

'_When you have learned enough to question everything you know to be true, then you will begin to understand you have learned nothing'_.

The Zen quote had been carved into the head of the classroom at his old school, he had walked past it for years and never given it a second thought, until he had forced Rei to look at the truth of her existence and challenge the assumptions she had built her life on.

Since then, they hadn't exchanged a word; she was apparently not inclined to start any conversations with him, and he respected that she needed room to think.

Except for the fact that today of course, they had work to do.

"Oh wait, there she is, down there" Toji said suddenly, snapping Shinji's train of thought back to the present as he gestured down a cross corridor of classrooms. Indeed, the blue hair and sling ensured Rei stuck out like a sore thumb but more then that, it was the bubble of space around her in the crowded passage that made it easy to find her, the other students almost subconsciously giving her a much more generous personal space then they may have afforded another person.

"I have to go and talk with her for a few minutes" Shinji said, then looking around and nodded to an empty classroom, the two stepping inside.

"Uh…okay" Toji said with a frown. "You sure have interesting tastes in women man…I mean Misato is…well…"

_You don't know the half of it _Shinji thought to himself, wincing at the memory of the pile of beer cans he had almost drowned in this morning.

Even if half of them were Pen Pen's. How in the hell Misato had turned that bird into an alcoholic…

Oh well, one hopeless battle at a time…

"Uh, no it's not like that" he said with a shake of his head and a smile, his face flushing slightly, before looking back up and forcing a serious expression on his face. "Listen…Rei is an Eva pilot". Toji's eyes went wide at that, but Shinji pressed on, giving a quick explanation and finishing with "and that's why I arrived, to pilot Unit One".

"Well that explains why she keeps vanishing" Toji muttered as a piece of the puzzle clicked into place in his head. "But uh…why are you telling me this?"

Again Shinji glanced around the room, before deciding to risk it.

"Because the city might come under attack today". Toji's eyes went even wider somehow, but Shinji pressed on. "Don't worry; there will be plenty of time to get everyone into the shelters…Kana is downstairs isn't she?"

"Yeah" Toji nodded, then crossed his arms and smiled at the mention of his sister. "You know, you've been avoiding her for the last couple of days".

"Sorry she's just a little…" Shinji hesitated, completely unable to express himself to Toji, who laughed.

"Hey its okay Ikari, it's just a little crush, I'm not going to hit you….unless you try anything stupid with her" he said, his tone turning deadly, but his expression and eyes remained amused.

"What? No! I would never do something like that!" Shinji spluttered, 'old' Shinji instantly stepping to the forefront and taking the bait hook, line and sinker.

"Why? She isn't good enough?!" Toji demanded with a bark, causing Shinji to jump back a half meter in fright and Toji to burst out laughing for a second, before the heavy weight of the immediate future and Shinji's revelations settled back on his shoulders. "Eh…yeah sorry, I didn't-"

"It's okay" Shinji assured him, glancing at his watch –five minutes. "Look I've got to go, do me a favor and keep an eye on Kensuke. I don't want him sneaking out to get a look at frontline combat or anything stupid if something _does _go down".

"I'd never let him do anything that stupid" Toji assured him with a superior look.

"No…I'm sure you wouldn't" Shinji muttered, nodding at his friend and following him back into the corridor, Toji heading back the way he came, probably to pick up Kensuke then find his Sister.

Well, _he_ had a 'Sister' to find as well for that matter.

The passage was now nearly empty and Rei was nowhere in sight, but it was an easy guess as to where she was going. Hurrying down to the end of the corridor, he turned the corner to the main stairwell, but instead of heading down to the school grounds like most people, he leapt up the stairs and eventually reached the roof.

Rei had clearly just arrived. She was only a matter of meters away, walking towards the edge of the roof where she often stood and stared out at the silver and white buildings of Tokyo 3 in the distance, much as she did in class.  
"Pilot Ikari" she said without turning or breaking her stride.

_How _does_ she always know _he wondered?

"Hello…Ayanami" he said in return awkwardly, shutting the door behind him and stepping up to walk next to her in silence, until they reached the railing at the edge of the roof.

The view _was_ impressive, he had to admit that. The Valley that Tokyo 3 was situated in was something of a concave bow, broken only on the South side which slopped downwards towards Lake Ashi. The lowest point of the 'bowl' was directly above the center of the Geofront while the outer ring of the wide valley marked the absolute diameter of the massive underground cavern. Tokyo-3 High number 4 was situated just behind the Western edge of the ring, mostly because on the reverse side of the slope and a hundred meters under the school was a massive survival shelter capable of supporting sixty thousand people over several weeks if need be, where the school kids were expected to hunker down and wait out an Angel attack until the all clear was given..

Well, with two current exceptions anyway.

"The flowers are in my room" Rei spoke up quietly after several seconds of silence, startling Shinji until his mind finally caught up.

"Uh…that's great" he nodded. "Did you put them in water?"

Rei inclined her head in a way that told him his answer without her needing to say anything.

"You uh…should put them in a vase of water, it helps keep them alive for longer" he explained. Rei considered his advice, and then nodded slowly before turning her eye back towards the city.

"Penny for your thoughts" Shinji suggested as he leaned down next to her, looking over the fortress city in front of them…then at the look on her face, he had to laugh.

"I am sorry Rei, its just a saying…I was wondering what is on your mind".

Rei lowered her head to study some spec on the metal railing in front of them for a few seconds, before she looked back out at the city again with a slight sigh.

"I am…confused".

"About what?"

Rei turned to look at him steadily, as if seeking something in his expression, before she decided to answer his question.

"About…my purpose in life".

_Now _that _is interesting _Shinji thought to himself.

"You are hardly alone in that Rei" Shinji replied honestly with a sigh he didn't really feel. No, _his _purpose was all too clear, equally majestic and terrifying, in his mind at all times of the day and night…

Not that that those thoughts would help Rei right now.

"Why are you confused about your purpose?" he asked instead.

Rei blinked.

"To have a reason to exist" she replied as if he had asked 'why do things fall down'. "Life without purpose is merely…existence" she declared after some thought, her tone suggesting she no longer found 'mere existence' especially relevant or satisfying.

It was all Shinji could do not give her a hug then and there.

"That's a…deep thought, Ayanami" Shinji replied as he considered her position. "But…a purpose to me, suggests that you have a reason for existing…that you exist, you have been…created for a purpose in life, if you will".

"Yes" she responded without hesitation.

"Why?" he asked mildly.

Rei frowned, then paused, her single scarlet eye fluttering slightly as she considered her response.

"Rei" he continued after the silence stretched uncomfortably without a reply, "a_purpose _suggests that you exist to fill some kind of external_use_, something you have no control over, something you are used for" Shinji said gently, his mind in overdrive. "You are a unique, free, individual. By definition, your purpose is to live life as _you_ wish to live it!"

Silence.

_Okay, new approach Shinji _he thought with a sigh.

"You told me a few days ago…that you pilot Unit Zero because you are bonded to it" he said after a few seconds, trying a new tactic.

"Yes" she agreed softly.

"To protect mankind from the Angels"

Rei nodded again.

Shinji smiled as he turned to look over the city again. "Why?"

Rei opened her mouth, then paused and closed it, a slight wave of frustration moving across her face, for reasons he could guess at quite easily as the contradiction of doing her job because Father told her to do it crashed right up against her newfound ability to define herself as a unique individual, whom he was now telling _didn't _need to simply follow orders…_time to push a little deeper_.

"I pilot my Evangelion to protect you" he said softly, causing a rather charming flush of red to appear on her face as she looked away. "But I was initially brought here by my Father, he told me to pilot Unit One…simply because he 'had a use' for me, that he had found a purpose for me". Shinji paused, surprised to find that just_thinking _about his Father still made him shudder.

"I mean, I only _exist_ because of him, I am his _Son_. His DNA runs in my blood Rei" Shinji exhaled, noting out of the corner of his eye that Rei was focused completely on him, turning back to face her again.

"But I owe him_nothing_ for that in of itself" he almost spat, causing her eye to blink at the bold statement. "Regardless of how it came about, my existence is my _own;_ I do not _belong _to him. I _chose_ to pilot Unit One to protect you, and everyone else in this city for that matter, not to serve _his_ whims". He paused to take a breath and calm down, before adding in a softer voice "and you Rei have the same ability to choose your own purpose in life, irrespective of the wishes of anyone else".

Rei's expression didn't shift in the slightest. Her single uncovered eye burned into his own as he returned the stare levelly, time all but crawling to a stop as neither of them dared to flinch from the intensity of the gaze passing between them, Shinji all but daring her to reject his position-

Then their phones both beeped.

The two jumped slightly, breaking the frozen moment. Shinji was already holding his phone, having expected the call all morning. Flipping it open, he saw the text message from NERV he had been dreading.

ALERT CONDITION ONE.

REPORT TO HEADQUATERS. IMMEDIATELY.

ACKNOWLEDGE CASPER-7399

"Angel" he muttered, thumbing in his acknowledgement code that sent a return message back to the MAG, letting NERV know he had received the message. Rei also glanced at her own phone, replied and carefully replaced it into her bag, before standing up straight.

"We…must report in" she said, finding herself surprisingly glad for the interruption.

Shinji nodded and the pair swiftly made their way back to the stairwell without comment, down the stairs to the main schoolyard and towards the front gates. Shinji felt the eyes of many of his classmates wondering why he and Ayanami were running together towards the school exit and cursed, knowing the rumor mill would put two and two together and get six.

Or perhaps not.

A howling scream arose from around the school, causing the laughter and noise of children at play to reduce and then fall off into a strained silence. Seconds later, an announcement came echoing from the distance about a Special State of Emergency being declared as teachers and Class Representatives swung into action, but the two pilots were already clear of the grounds.

* * *

Two Hundred Kilometers off Japans Western Coast and fifteen minutes in the past, two JSDF F-15J interceptors pointed their noses into a long descending dive towards the pacific ocean, breaking through cloud layers with a precision and ease that spoke of pilots with long years of experience at the controls, their wings heavy with long range fuel tanks and Air to Air missiles. 

"Ronan One flight of Two, Atsugi" the voice of their distant controller game into their headsets with perfect clarity. "Bogy is at your three O'clock Angels base plus fifteen, twenty miles".

"Ronan copies, request clearance for intercept" the 'lead' fighter in the two pair element radioed back, trying to keep the boredom out of his voice. He had been doing the exact same thing every time he had gone up since that blasted first Angel attack two weeks ago. Apparently the brass were concerned something else was going to just come flying in, making them jump at every unexplained radar blip and contact.

All but one of which had been commercial airliners –hundreds of them-on proper routings, well outside the Air ID zone which they were required to check in.

_What a waste of fuel_the Colonel thought to himself with a sigh. Its not like after Second Impact, with much destruction of the worlds oil producing infrastructure, that the stuff was exactly cheap.Still, it was a wonderful day to fly, perfect weather and perfect visibility, so he couldn't really complain about being given a chance to go for a flight.

"Ronan is cleared interception" the controller from the distant Naval Air Base came back finally.

"Roger" he replied, switching frequencies to his own flights private channel. "Two, combat spread, breaking left".

"Two's in" the curt reply came back from his wingman. Checking his straps one last time, he pulled his Oxygen mask firmly onto his face and disconnected the autopilot, curving smoothly down and away towards the deck cloud layer. The glare of the ocean from the sun made trying to find even a 747 difficult, so he slapped his sun visor down, cutting back the glare and letting him sigh in relief. A quick glance over his shoulder –yes the Captain was properly tucked in a combat spread behind and above him- and he was focused back on the intercept. He broke through the low cloud hanging well off the coast-

And his eyes went wide in shock.

Flying perpendicular to his course was a gigantic purple…thing. From his vantage point above his target, it looked like a kind of giant spear, a pointed head and a long shaft of a body behind it, with what looked disturbingly like eyes at the front, barely above sea level and motoring along at a good speed straight for Japan.

"Two, breaking right!" he said hurriedly, pulling into a turn to the right which his wingman skillfully mimicked, counting to ten before pulling into a long 180 degree left hand turn, bringing him up behind and above the bandit at a good distance.

"Lead, Two is that..."

"Yes" he said curtly, judging its speed at about Mach zero point eight and it's distance at five kilometers. "Maintain radio silence" he ordered, switching his frequency back to his controller.

"Atsugi, Ronan lead is declaring case FIREFLY, I say again, Ronan lead is declaring case FIREFLY".

There was a startled silence of four or so seconds over the channel, before the calm voice of his controller returned.

"Confirm FIREFLY Ronan. Say speed and heading".

"Target heading two five ninner at mach zero point eight, speed and course steady".

"Maintain position and report any changes Ronan. Do _not _engage".

"Hai, maintain position, Ronan understands.

The General in charge of the duty staff at Atsugi swore, ripping off his headset and grabbing a red and white stripped phone.

"Get me the Tokyo 3 Operations! Now!"

* * *

A NERV car was waiting right at the front gate of the school for them with a pair of Section Two agents inside who said nothing, but drove down into the Geofront at high speed as sirens howled across the region. Shinji had expected the trip to crawl, instead it moved by in a blur as worries and fears he had felt since this morning started to rise to the forefront of his thoughts. 

Approaching Tokyo 3 was a…thing, intent on killing him and everything he cared about before it exterminated his race. He had fought against it once before and come within a hundredth of a second of loosing, and despite telling himself that he was much more skilled then he had been the first time he had come up against it, that tiny spark of terror he felt at going into combat refused to be put out, slowly starting to smolder into his confidence as he clenched and unclenched his right hand, well on the way to working himself into a nervous wreck…

At which point a hand gently came down upon his.

If not for the seatbelt, Shinji decided he probably would have jumped out of the window at the unannounced contact, his eyes flicking over at the person next to him in the back seat.

To his astonishment, Rei had placed her hand on top of his own, stilling its movements with a gentle, cool and surprisingly soft touch that drained his tension, leaching it from his body like she was somehow absorbing it even though she was in fact looking out her window and paying no attention to him at all.

Shinji had no clue what to say or do to the almost casual response…so he just sat back and enjoyed the peace he suddenly found.

And when she intertwined her fingers with his, again without looking, he gripped back gently.

At least until the car screeched to a halt a few seconds later just outside the Eva cages, at which point they mutually let go, but the memory of her hands remained…

"Let's go Kids!" a gruff voice came from beside him with a tap on the window. Blushing slightly, Shinji slapped his seatbelt release and opened the door, jumping out into the roaring noise of the cage as they worked to prepare Unit One for launch.

"Pilot Ikari" Rei called suddenly, causing him to turn towards her.

"Yes?'

"…Good luck" she said with some difficulty, before whirling and running away with a light grace towards an elevator.

Controlling the smile that threatened to work its way onto his face, Shinji slammed his own door shut and ducked through an open blast door to the base of the Eva cage, grabbing his plug suit from a technician waiting for him and struggling to change into it as the lift ascended the size of the cage towards the gantry

The 'cage leader', the senior NERV officer in charge of operations for Unit One was waiting for him as the lift opened, hurrying him down the catwalk suspended above the long, long, long drop to the ground, to his entry plug as Shinji depressed his wrist switch, causing the plug suit to hiss and contract into a skintight seal.

Without ceremony he jumped into the plug which was already in place behind Unit One's neck, which smoothly sealed, then tilted and locked into place, the armor plates on the back of Unit One sealing him in with a muted thud, as the entry plug flooded with LCL.

* * *

"The target has been sighted by our cameras. It's already penetrated into our territorial waters" Aoba called out as the main screen in the operations centre switched to a long range view from a shore camera, looking out over the ruins of Japans old coastline to the bizarre thing inbound, being paced by a pair of F-15's. 

There was no way the gigantic purple…thing, cruising at just under supersonic speeds couldn't be anything but an Angel, but they had just received confirmation from the MAGI of a blue pattern, letting NERV swing into full scale action.

"All personnel assume Battle Stations, level one!" Fuyutsuki ordered curtly, resisting the urge to bite his fingernails. In the absence of the Commander, _he_ was now in charge of the entire military response. And unlike Gendo, he held no illusions that he was any kind of military genius.

He was a professor of meta-biology, not a soldier for Gods sake.

Still, at least he had a solid group of people working for him …

"Roger" Misato answered his order smoothly, turning towards her staff. "Prepare for anti aircraft interception!"

"Tokyo-3 transforming to battle formation" Hyuga nodded, typing away on his keyboard.

"Initiate accommodation of the central block" another operator called.

"Bringing UN forces to full battle conditions" said another.

Far above them as the streets emptied, buildings moved. Some descended into the ground, others, with far fewer windows and a much more sinister and utilitarian look, rose into the sky in their place. On the outskirts of the city, UN vehicles rolled into position, mostly comprised of tanks and general purpose missile launchers. Weapons emplacements built into the side of the mountains exposed themselves and even on the Hakone Ropeway, 'special' cable cars mounting autocannons instead of sightseers were strung into place like Christmas decorations across the verdant hills.

Within five minutes, Tokyo 3 had transformed from a busy modern city into the most heavily defended location on the planet, with only a handful of grim camouflaged troopers ducking through the city streets to their posts.

"Accommodation of central block and the first through seventh districts has been completed. The evacuation is complete and the Government and other related ministries have been notified" Hyuga said as his board went green.

"The target is still advancing" Aboa called out as the main screen switched to new camera, this one on one of Tokyo-3's own buildings. "Time to engagement, two minutes sixty seconds".

"The entry plug has been inserted into Unit One, we are ready for startup" Maya broke in.

"Do it" Akagi ordered, her hands in her lab coats pockets as she stood behind her protégé, watching over the readings but letting Maya do the job herself in a subtle sign of confidence in her subordinates abilities.

"Roger" she replied, tripping the main power circuit. "Commencing A-10 nerve connections…link active, bio readings stable".

"Initiate second connection".

"Second connection levels stable, synchronization ratio at ninety four percent" Maya confirmed, once again causing Ritsuko to shake her head in astonishment and exasperation.

"Very well, commence third connection".

"Absolute borderline in zero point three…zero point one…cleared, Unit one has been activated!"

"Understood" Misato called, spinning around to the main screen. "Shinji?"

A window popped up, 'picture inside picture' style on the main screen that was tracking the Angel as it crossed the coast, showing the Third Child inside his entry plug, looking confident.

"Right here, Misato"

"We're going to do this just like we practiced Shinji" she said as the giant he was inside was shuttled to the launch pad.

"I'm ready" was all he said with a nod.

"Good" she smiled, not able to think of anything else to say that would sound trite to a fourteen year old kid going into battle. But once again the near overwhelming pride in her young charge came flooding to the forefront, as Shinji Ikari once again took up the gauntlet thrown down by the Angels.

"The target has entered the mountains" Aboa warned. Engagement in fifteen seconds".

"Stand by to deploy Unit One to surface, access Sixteen Bravo" Misato ordered, citing a launch exit on the Eastern most edge of the city, right at the head of a valley the Angel was probably going to come flying down if it held its course.

"Roger" Maya said, tapping her keyboard and arming the system as Aboa looked from his board.

"Target entering outer engagement zone!"

Misato snarled with a wolfish grin.

"Launch Eva! Commence firing!"

* * *

In one of the more impressive showings of firepower in the modern world, hundreds of auto-cannons, missile launchers, rocket launchers and heavy guns opened fire simultaneously for the first time in anger, pounding the incoming Angel with enough ammunition to shred a battleship, all of it exploding harmlessly dozens of meters away as the hostile flew serenely through the curtain of firepower towards the urban sprawl ahead of it, towards the shadow of the Black Moon and the echo it sensed deep under Central Dogma. 

Below ground, Shinji's jaw rattled as Unit One thundered towards the surface, his mind body moving through the motions, arming the Type – 4 Evangelion rocket launcher beside him and holding his AT field in readiness.

Batter up Shinji, he thought, going over everything he remembered.

_Forth Angel. Flies or hovers to get around, doesn't have legs. Has a tough core, the progressive knife took half a minute of sustained cutting to cut through. Two cutting 'tentacles' for weapons, both capable of punching through one side of Unit One and out the other without slowing down. No ranged weapons I ever saw…but Angels can adapt and evolve. _

A loud buzzing started to echo in his cockpit, the six second warning and he took a deep breath.

_Okay. Keep it at range, nullify its AT field and direct as much firepower as possible into it_.

The blurred tunnel of the launch tube vanished to be replaced by the bright green foliage of the outer ring of Tokyo-3, followed by the crunch as the lift crashed to a halt. Directly ahead only kilometers away, the gigantic, snake like figure of the Angel bore down on Tokyo-3, ignoring the streams of tracers and smoke trails directed at it from arsenal buildings, missile launchers and other defensive emplacements, the ordinance either bouncing off its AT field or just exploding with no effect well short of the target.

_Well, we'll just see about that! _Shinji decided, shouldering the missile launcher that had been deployed with him and expanding his AT field to maximum range.

The Angel, as quick as the snake it looked like, turned directly towards him and dove the_instant_ he unfolded his AT field, bearing down as if it wanted to ram him. It shuddered slightly as it hit his AT field, but pushed onward, a pair of bright pink links uncoiling from its 'arms' as it approached at a terrifying rate-

Shinji jumped to the side as hard as he could, barely avoiding the twin whips as they scathed through the area he had just vacated, slicing the launch cradle into dozens of chunks of metal with perfectly clean cuts as it passed overhead, pulling its own AT field back away form Unit One's as it banked into a curve. A handful of shots from the defensive batteries closer to the city managed to connect before it's AT field shifted, denting the thick purple 'skin', but doing depressingly little damage as it majestically came about.

"It's fast!" Shinji coughed as he heaved Unit One to its feet.

* * *

"The armor on that thing is incredible" Hyuga bemoaned as the Angel came about over the very outskirts of Tokyo 3. AAA and SAM batteries continued to blaze away with perfect accuracy, but no real effect now that Unit One was no longer neutralizing the AT field. "Its moving too fast to get in any real damage with conventional weapons when it's AT field drops". 

"And those whips it's packing are _deadly_" Aboa agreed, his hands flying across his keyboard as he worked to analyze what little data he had. "They can probably slice right through his armor if they connect".

"Sassy bastard" Misato growled as her mind whirled. "We need to make those few hits we get count for more. What do we have that's heavier then what we're throwing at it?" she demanded, spinning to face her technicians.

"Well…apart from N2 weapons, just the Type 20 positron rifle".

"Perfect" she declared. Deploy it to Shinji's location stat!"

"Roger" Aboa said, reaching for his microphone and barking orders.

"But the type 20 hasn't been field tested yet!" Ritsuko protested, spinning around from Maya to face the Operations Director. "It might just blow up in his face for all we know".

"We don't have a choice" Misato snapped back, not taking her eyes off the screen as the Angel finished a smooth turn to head back the way it had come, towards the Valley at Shinji, who was sighting down the barrel of his rocket launcher at the incoming target with a coolness that enflamed the pride she felt for him.

"You're out of line Captain!" Ritsuko snapped, causing the temperature to drop ten degrees in the operations centre. "Your risking catastrophic damage to Unit One-"

"_I _am the Operations Director _Doctor_" Misato snarled back, surprised at the edge in her voice. "And I am not going to carry on a running argument with you during a battle. Now if you have a better idea, say so. Otherwise, clear the bridge!"

Ritsuko worked her jaw, but turned back to her console without protest, though Misato felt a slight pang as their friendship –damaged after her revelations about what had happened to Shinji and Asuka's mothers and Misatos gut feeling that that was only the tip of the iceberg- frayed a little more.

"The Type 20 is being loaded onto the linier carriage, two minutes to the surface" Maya said in a level voice, breaking the sudden tension and focusing everyone on their jobs.

"Two minutes…this thing will be _over_ in two minutes!" Misato growled at the screen, even though she knew it wasn't anyone's fault.

The Angel accelerated into the attack again on the screen, this time with its tentacles snapping ahead of it gleefully as it bore down on the suddenly tiny looking Unit One, which stood fearlessly in its path.

_It's a good thing I don't have a very high fiber diet _Shinji thought to himself as the 'Angel of The Morning' dove towards him, its 'arms' hungrily reaching ahead of it.

The heavy guns and high velocity rocket launchers that could be brought to bear once again opened fire, unleashing volley after volley at the intruder with perfect accuracy.

_What a waste of the taxpayer's money _Shinji laughed humorlessly to himself before the weapons emplacements ceased fire, the Angels path taking it too close to Unit One to risk shooting. Part of his mind followed the shouting back at headquarters as Misato tried to find him a bigger gun, but Shinji had more immediate concerns and he tuned it out. The Angel itself was playing a much more cagy game then he remembered it doing last time. Shinji didn't know if that was because he had intercepted it short of the city, or if this was an indicator that Adams offspring were going to start playing rough.

He prayed to a God he really didn't believe in that it was the former.

Its tactics were almost perfect though, by flying by so fast it only left him about a half second to neutralize the AT field and get a shot in, while in return he would be damned lucky to avoid getting decapitated, slices in half or just picked up and thrown around at will by those deceptively fragile looking 'arms'.

It wasn't fair damn it!

_And when Asuka faced down Evangelions Five through Fourteen with three minutes of power and nothing but a progressive knife, did she stand around and cry about how unfair life was? _a part of his mind asked with a sneer.

Okay, fair point…

What _would _Asuka do in this situation?

A memory flicked into his mind, Asuka leaping into combat with absurd glee on her first sortie, jumping high into the air and cleaving 7th Angel in two.

Concentrating harder; Shinji surrendered his perceptions to those of the Evangelion, feeling himself almost melt into the giant cyborg. Instantly, he wasn't in the entry plug, suddenly _he _was standing in the valley, _he_ was gripping the rocket launcher in his hands, _he_was in the line of fire as the glowing 'whips' swung towards his head…and it was _his _head they were swinging towards.

So it was time to be somewhere else.

Unit One squatted then jumped as hard as Shinji could make it, leaping into the Angels path as the two AT fields again crashed together, momentum transferring slightly to push him backwards as vents on the lower rear of the Evangelions shoulder blades snapped open and a series of rockets ignited for a split second, throwing him high above the Angels line of flight and into a slight forward tumble. The Angel, committed on its run was unable to adjust fast enough to the completely unexpected tactic, its tentacles shredding his power cable but missing the Evangelion as Shinji's roll brought his launcher, still firmly in his hand to bear at point blank range.

Fire exploded from the circular tube as the magazine emptied in rapid fire, one, two three of the massive 16 inch rockets connecting and clobbering the 'top' of the Angel, blasting huge craters down its side.

_This _time, the Angel didn't simply fly away unharmed but violently rolled to the right and down, its 'head' crashing into the rice paddies that lined the bottom of the valley and digging in, sending thousands of tons of dirt flying into the air.

Leaving Shinji just the slight problem of being in an uncontrolled airborne spin as Gravity reclaimed its hold.

Unit One slammed into the Northern hill lining the valley in a half crash, half crouch of a landing, leaving two footprints embedded on the rock face above a major highway that would become quite the tourist attraction over the next few months, and eventually part of a major Nike marketing campaign.

Recovering, Shinji rebounded off the Cliffside and down to the valley to another half stumble, but quickly recovered and spun around to face the Angel, discarding the empty launcher.

* * *

"Wow" was the only word any of the operations staff could come up with, in this case coming from the lips of Misato as the staff watched the stunned Angel try to pick itself up after Shinji's utterly insane, if effective move. 

Then, because she couldn't think of anything else to say, she said it again.

"Type 20's almost ready" Maya shouted, breaking the silence as she hurriedly worked her magic. Technical Division Two had broken records in getting the weapon dragged over to the launching catapult to Shinji's current location; a swarm of workers were even now setting it into place to be launched, knowing the outcome depended on them. Misato was proud of how well everyone was performing…but time wasn't on their side here.

* * *

The Angel had already risen to its horizontal hover by the time Shinji had turned around, then it slowly, but malevolently started to pitch backwards towards a vertical position, its 'head' and 'shoulders' rotating into place as it completed the transformation into the Angels more familiar, vertical stance. 

It wasn't _all_ bad news though. To Shinji's surprise as the Angel slowly turned to face him, he noticed one of his hits had blown the left tentacle clean off.

_Only one arm, this I can handle _he decided, releasing his Progressive Knife with a thought. The Angel, its courage –or wind- back, floated forward with its single remaining 'arm' waving around violently like a shield, daring him to attack it.

_If that's the way you want it _he shrugged, easing forward.

At once, the tentacle shifted in a blur, snapping back, then forward at incredible speed right at his head. Shinji instinctively raised his Eva's left hand to intercept the strike and cried out in pain as metal plates of armor started to drip into molten slag to the ground, the hand and tentacle mutually gripping around each other in a deadly bond, his hand feeling like someone had wrapped white hot barbed wire around it.

_Not…smart _Shinji snarled silently in between gasps at the Angel, bringing his Progressive knife to life with its thunderous roar. _You just screwed up, leaving your core unprotected big boy!_

With a roar, the progressive knife crashed into the side of the core. Unlike the Third Angels, the core of this Angels was slippery, only very slowly yielding to the force but as the seconds ticked away, the core continued to slowly fracture, the grip on his left hand becoming increasingly frantic as Shinji increased the pressure -

Then ten seconds in,_another_ whip slapped into his right hand wrist, sending the progressive knife spinning off over the hillside.

"What the-" he demanded, then finally noticed to his horror that the Angel had somehow regenerated the damage to its shoulder that had blown the whip away, a brand new glowing thread of energy, which was already curving back around from its strike.

"Oh, give me a-"

Unit One's arm moved almost without him being aware of it, intercepting the Angels follow up strike at his head and holding it at bay, but jolts of energy rolled down his arms as the circuit was completed, causing his muscles to spasm painfully with his high Synch Ratio, an involuntary scream ripped from his mouth as he furiously pushed back against the pain.

* * *

It was pure luck that Fuyutsuki happened to be looking at Rei as Shinji's scream filled the command centre. The First Child had been watching the battle with her usual "empty" but curious expression, staying out of the way as she studied the enemy she would have to fight one day. But when Shinji's cry of pain ripped through the command centre… 

Her fists clenched.

Tightly.

This for Rei, was about the equivalent of a normal person getting a bullhorn and screaming loudly into NERV's public address system that they were rather concerned about Shinji.

_This behavior needs investigation he_ decided. The idea of Shinji and Rei forming some kind of friendship was slightly disturbing, mostly because of the implications of where it _might_ lead…but this barely qualified as a suspicion. A true, platonic friendship could be quite beneficial for both of them if properly managed, but things were starting to move too quickly to risk playing around with a key part of Gendo's plans…

He decided to have a quiet talk with Rei after this battle was over, but put her out of his mind for now, returning his attention to the screen where it belonged.

Back at the battle, Shinji had managed to plant his feet in a wide stance, then with an almighty, almost Herculean effort and a roar of anger, he spun, centrifugal force sending the Angel flying down the Valley as he threw it by its 'whips' away from Tokyo 3 to crash in a rather undignified position on its back, its arms flailing and turning several abandoned houses into free firewood.

"Maya!" Misato shouted as Shinji's power timer slipped under three minutes. The young technician furiously taped her keyboard-

"Ready!"

"DO IT!"

The catapult fired instantly, the gigantic rifle roaring skywards.

* * *

Shinji retreated to the lift as the Angel got back to its 'feet', like a champion Boxer that had taken a blow you hoped would knock it out but actually did little more then tick it off. Interestingly, it didn't look like it had regenerated the damage he had done to the core and he wondered if there was some kind of limitation to that, but forcibly put all thoughts out of his mind. 

"Shinji, the positron cannon is arriving. Just point and shoot, but you've only got seven shots!"

"Roger" he acknowledged as the gigantic weapon rose from the depths of the Earth. Picking it up, he swung the cannon onto his shoulder, grunting slightly at the weight, and brought it into line with the Angel as it floated back towards him.

Centering the crosshairs, he pumped the trigger. Twice.

Twin balls of white light burned downrange and smashed into the core of the Angel. The 'positron rifle' wasn't really a dedicated antimatter weapon as its name implied. In fact, only a tiny percentage of each shot was made up of positrons, a tiny sphere of them, encased in a magnetic field and cocooned in high energy plasma, which in turn was cased in yet another magnetic field to keep the whole package together. As each bolt crashed into the Angel, the plasma did its usual thing and burned into the target the target for a split second…

Then the antimatter impacted.

Mutual annihilation was not a pleasant thing to happen to _any _kind of matter, but the Angels electron rich core was really _not _the best place to be hit by the positron cannon.

The core shattered into chunks and Shamshel crashed down a dozen meters to hit the ground. Operating on pure reflex Shinji brought the cannon back down from the recoil and triggered a third shot that sent the purple figure reeling back to crash into the ground of the Valley, completely unmoving. Cautiously walking forward, he held the cannon ready for another volley, but as the smoke cleared, he saw that while the Angel had apparently regenerated the rest of its damage, the core was simply now a blackened, charred wasteland, the tentacles hanging from its shoulder blades now nothing more then dark cables.

"The target has gone completely silent" Aboa called as the smoke continued to clear. "Energy readings have dropped to zero".

_And the best part about going back in time _he thought, switching his radio over to the general frequency, a_ll those lines you came up with too late…_

"Anyone for fried squid?" Shinji asked brightly into the brittle silence, causing hundreds of UN and NERV personnel to burst out laughing.

With the exceptions of Rei Ayanami, who let the slightest ghost of a smile pass over her face before she turned and left the command centre, Kōzō Fuyutsuki who bemoaned that the kid was embarrassing NERV and Misato who just sighed and gave a smile of thanks that Shinji had survived.

"Funny. Now get your ass back down here" she ordered.

"Yes Mam" he replied. Unit One tossed a salute to the cameras point of view as UN troops advanced towards the downed Angel, many of them waving or cheering as the giant made its way back to the lift, set the Positron rifle down carefully next to it, then bolted itself on and was retrieved, vanishing back into its lair below ground.

* * *

"That…was the most awesome cool super amazing thing I have ever SEEN!" Kensuke Aida half whispered and half shouted as Unit One dropped back down towards the Geofront, packing his camera back into his backpack with a grin on his face. Sneaking away hadn't been easy, but damn if it wasn't worth it. 

"_That_ was the most insane and stupid thing you have ever done" Toji snarled without warning. The younger man yelped in surprise as Tokji's hand grabbed a fistful of Aida's shirt and yanked him from his place of concealment, a hill behind, but looking down into the Valley Unit One and the Angel had fought through.

"Toji!" he said in astonishment, "what, when-"

"I promised Shinji that I would keep an eye on you" the rather intimidating jock snapped as he hauled his protesting classmate back over the top of the hill he had been standing, "to make sure you DIDN'T do anything stupid like this!" Toji all but flung the protesting Aida down the slop to the nearby stone stairs that led back to the shelter. "I _told _you to stay in the shelter but no, you had to go and be an idiot!"

"I can take care of myself!" Kensuke protested, causing Toji to slap him over the head again.

"Wrong answer! What would have happened if Shinji had seen you up there when he was fighting! A split second distraction, a hesitation that that…thing he was fighting could use against him! What if he didn't take a shot because he thought he might miss and hit you and he lost the battle!"

Kensuke opened his mouth to protest…then closed it as the words started to sink in, unable to meet Toji's glare.

Toji forced himself to close his eyes and take a deep breath. Kensuke hadn't meant any harm after all, but despite the fact that he was one of the smartest kids in the class, he could be a dense as a brick when it came to thinking things through!

"This isn't a game Kensuke" he said in a more level voice. "Real people are fighting and dying out here to protect us. I made a stupid mistake when the last Angel attacked, my Sister and I almost died because of it. I thought _you_ were smarter that".

"I...I'm sorry" Kensuke muttered, suddenly feeling miserable. Toji was right, he realized, kicking himself for making such a stupid decision. He had gone up, deciding to take the risk to try and get some footage of the battle after finding yet again nothing but propaganda on the TV channels, reasoning that he was only risking his own life.

But if he had caused Shinji to loose, get hurt or do something that hurt other people...

"Look, your right. It was stupid…I won't do it again" Kensuke said as honestly as he could.

Toji grunted as they hurried down the steps as fast as they could, hoping against hope to get back before they were missed.

"Its okay, look just don't do it again K"

They reached the door to the shelter, a thick vault like construct. The two grunted as they pulled it open, jumping inside-

"YOU IDIOTS!"

"YOU MORONS!"

Kana Suzuhara and Hikari Horaki stood just inside the door, apparently having just run around the corner into the access corridor themselves, looks of simultaneous anger, relief, fury and exasperation warring on their faces as they bore down on the suddenly terrified young men, who froze like dears in headlights.

"Uh…we just had to go outside and AHAHH-"

Toji's rather lame attempt to explain what they were doing outside in a military emergency ended abruptly as his sister seized his ear in one hand and pulled, dragging him furiously back towards the shelter, followed by Kensuke, who's ear was in the firm grasp of the Class Representative.

"Ease up Kana" Kensuke begged, to the surprise of everyone, especially Hikari who had an irrational surge of anger and wondered if she was causing her charge enough pain, given he was worried about Toji over himself. "It was my fault" he pleaded, "I ran off and he just came looking for me".

Kana, whose terror at finding her brother had vanished during an Angel attack was still rather potent at least was calm enough to stop and turn to face her brother with a surprised expression, before –grudgingly- letting go of his ear along with Hikari, the two men making rather pathetic whimpering noises as they rubbed their ears.

"Is this true?" Hikari demanded with a raised eyebrow at Toji. Kensuke gave him a slight nod.

"Yes…but it was my choice to go after-" he tried to protest, but was cut off by the indignant Class Rep.

"YOU don't make that choice Suzuhara" she snapped, "you scarred your sister to death running off like that!"

"I didn't have time" he protested lamely. "I couldn't just stand here and let him get killed" Toji protested.

Hikari now looked mad enough that Toji, if asked, would have given even odds on a showdown between Shinji in his Evangelion and Hikari with her bare hands, but the Class Rep stopped at his protested long enough to close her eyes and take deep, long breaths.

"You two stooges are the biggest idiots I have had the misfortune of meeting" Hikari said, turning to face Toji. "If we ever come down here again, you will sit in a corner where we can watch you the entire time, you will not move, you will not blink, you will not talk without my express consent. Am I clear?'

"Yes Mam" he barked like a recruit at boot camp, fear still lacing his voice at the look on her face. She held her expression, trying to hide her own terror at the thought of anything happening to Toji under the persona of the Class rep before swinging around to face the second Stooge.

"Kensuke. I am going to have to report you leaving the shelter without permission". She struggled however as she considered what that meant, her intellectual honesty warring with her sense of 'rightness', before continuing with a slight sigh. "But I won't say you left the complex itself, I'll say you just ran off to the bathroom without permission or something".

"Th…thank you!" he spluttered. Kensuke had expected to be hauled off to the Principals office, suspended or expelled or even locked away by the military…the possibilities had kept growing at the look of anger in the two Girls eyes.

But he was off the hook and the group started back towards the main part of the shelter, Kana holding her brothers hand almost gently and Kensuke trying to make himself as small as possible, catching the not so subtle threat in the class Reps eyes.

_Betray this trust…and you will wish that the military had locked you up…_

* * *

"Get up Shinji! You'll be late for school!" 

Shinji groaned, feebly reaching to try and get out of the bed.

He succeeded. But rolling out onto the floor with a loud _thud _was not the way he had intended to do it.

He had stayed up late last night at a victory party at NERV in the main cafeteria, mostly an excuse for the hard working adults to drink reasonable amounts of Alcohol –when Gendo was away, NERV would play after all- but he had enjoyed it, even if he hadn't been allowed to drink anything but soft drinks.

It had been more then anything, the outpouring of goodwill from all the personnel, their constant thanks, hugs from more then a few women which had caused him to blush, even the slight smile and comment of 'Excellent work, Shinji' from the Vice Commander, that had made it such an enjoyable night.

And the outpouring of approval was so horribly addictive…it wasn't so long ago that everyone had abandoned him, even if they really hadn't and he had been just as much at fault for pushing them away…it was almost like a drug.

Of course, despite the fact that he had killed an Angel, despite the fact that he had stayed up to about two before he went home with Misato –or more accurately, before he and some NERV personnel got a somewhat tipsy Misato home- and into bed, Shinji cursing all the way up the stairs internally that Kaji wasn't here to do it yet, he still had to go to school today.

_Nuts to that! _he thought, reaching for his pillow and placing it over his head, willing the bliss of sleep to come from his position on the floor.

It wasn't to be however, as Misato cracked open his door and ripped off his blanket.

Luckily, he _did _have clothes on.

_That _could have been an interesting twist…

"Oh come on Shinji, if _I _have to go to work today, _you _can go to School!" she declared.

Shinji, his eyes only opened to cracks right now could only think that Misatos legs, now only a foot length from his head really WERE perfect from up close. Not a mark, not a hair at all on them anywhere he could see.

_Did he dare tilt his head to look up the legs, past the knee length dress…_

_No._

_He did _not_ dare_.

"Hmmmreeshhhhssseeepoooodyyyyy…"

"Eh?" Misato blinked in confusion. Shinji sighed, shut his eyes and marshaled some little bit of energy to try and form the words properly.

"I'm too tired to go to school today" he moaned. "Don't I get a day off for stopping mankind's destruction for another week or two?'

"This is Japan Shinji-Kun" she said sweetly, reaching down and yanking him to his feet with a surprising, but not a violent show of strength, indicating to Shinji she must have already had her 'wakeup beer' for this morning. "You're expected to go into work, or school, unless you have a legal document declaring you clinically dead".

"Call Ritsuko" he moaned, rubbing his head gingerly. "I think I qualify"

Misato laughed, teasing him for having a hang over without drinking, before half guiding and half pulling him out his room towards the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes of cold water later and he was awake and mostly alert, changing into his uniform with a sigh. Worst case, he could always catch up some of his sleep in one of the lectures about Second Impact.

He grabbed some of the breakfast Misato had made –and managed not to completely destroy, chewing down enough food to get him through the day, when the doorbell rang.

Slipping on his shoes, Shinji picked up his bag and headed for the hallway.

The door to Misato's apartment slid open, showing Toji and Kensuke, both utterly immaculate, both utterly beaming.

"Good morning Shinji" they said before shoving their heads in to look down the entranceway. "GOOD MORNING MISATO!" they then bellowed in perfect unison.

"Heeyyy guys" she replied in a purring voice, an arm wrapping around the doorway to the kitchen and waving generally in their direction.

Even _that _was enough to cause the eyes of the two young men to start watering.

"I'll see you later Shinji! No tests today"

"Right!" he called back, then none to carefully stepped forward, letting the door close behind him and forcing the other two kids to back off.

"Oh man she is _so_ hot!" Toji bemoaned. "Her voice is like that of an Angel".

"And her apartment is like that of a slob" Shinji said dryly…but in a soto tone, not willing to risk the wraith of his Guardian this early in the morning, as the trio descended the stairs.

"_I_ could live with that!" Kensuke protested with a snort. "You have the hottest, coolest guardian in the history of guardians Ikari, you don't know how lucky you are!"

"Oh yes I do" Shinji smiled suggestively, causing the two to stop dead.

"No…you wouldn't-"

"You _couldn't_-"

"You can't!-"

"And I didn't Shinji laughed.

"I knew it" the two said simultaneously with a mixture of disappointment that there were no steamy details coming and elation that they might still have a 'chance'.

Misato sighed as she cracked open a fresh can of bear, speed dialing Section 2 – Delta, the protective detail that covered the two Evangelion pilots deployed at Tokyo 3. A quick confirmation that Shinji was on the way and she could relax in the knowledge that he was now better protected then any other kid in the country, excepting Rei of course.

There were six Agents in Shinji's detail who shadowed him from the time he left the apartment both in cars and on foot, to when he arrived home at night, with another ten men spread throughout the school to watch Shinji and Rei while they were there, plus a quick response team at headquarters with heavy weapons.

Just in case.

With only three people out of three billion so far identified as capable of piloting Evangelions, the UN and NERV were not shy about ensuring their safety, albeit from the shadows to let them have as normal life as possible. To this end, Tokyo-3 High was probably the most secure high school in the world.

After all, not many schools employed janitors who were ex-military and carried around MP5-K submachine guns in their cleaning supplies.

Flipping her phone closed and grateful that she didn't have to be at work for another hour and a half, Misato turned on the TV with a sigh switching to the news channels, mostly for curiosity. The MAGI always presented her with anything she needed to know about around the world, she had come to rely on the semi-sentient computers for keeping her up to date.

Unsurprisingly, the Japanese news was again focused on the 'special state of emergency' that had been declared for the Kanto and Central regions centering on the Tokai area yesterday, with each channel she flipped through reporting the same story NERV's propaganda department had cooked up, so she started to surf through the other 24/7 channels.

"The Prime Minister remains tight lipped about the events-"

"rumors of military engagements of another hostile attacker of unknown origins-"

"statement from the 3rd district JSDF General, about the sequence of-"

"UN forces successfully engaged and defeated the hostile with superior firepower and tactics, while-"

Misato sighed and flicked off the screen, taking another sip of beer in contentment. She loved mornings.

* * *

A standing ovation greeted Shinji as he passed into classroom 3-F with Toji and Kensuke behind him, stopping him dead in his tracks in surprise. 

"Thank you, thank you Ladies, I would like to say on behalf of"- Toji began in a dramatic voice, only to have a half dozen books, lunchboxes and items of stationary fly through the air and knock him into the front wall of the class with a yelp, putting the class focus back on their true and somewhat surprised target.

"You ROCK Ikari-"

"I mean wow, that jump was AWESOME-"

"What was that gigantic gun you used at the end? Oh man that thing was so-"

"Thank you SO much-"

"Can you sign my lunchbox-"

"NO! Sign mine-"

"Shinji-Kun I'm free this Saturday-"

A loud _CRACK _cut off any further speculative questions, praise or date requests as a half meter ruler held loosely in Hikari Horaki's left hand crashed down onto a desk just in front of Shinji, instantly cutting off all conversation as if a switch had been thrown.

"Seats!"

No-one crossed the Class Rep when she used _that _voice.

"Uh, thanks Hikari" Shinji muttered as everyone moved back into their own seats.

Hikari offered him an impish but honest smile, which was a nice change from the rest of the girls in the class, who disturbingly he felt were all speculatively undressing him…

Not that the attention wasn't flattering, but his heart had long since become the personal legal property of Langley Soryu Corp.

_A No-Liability Company_ he thought with a smirk.

"Let's uh go outside for a second" Shinji sighed to his friends, ducking out into the hallway and making for the rooftop, luckily finding it empty.

Shinji waited until the door shut behind them, before raising an eyebrow. "Well?"

Kensuke and Toji exchanged a look.

"It was my fault, I snuck off-"

"And I uh went looking without telling anyone, so its my fault as well-"

"-top of the hill with the camera and saw-"

"-trying to find him when-"

"-so loud from all the explosions-"

"-at the top of the hill-"

The two continued to talk over and apologize for each other in rapid fire mode as they tried to rapidly fill him in on what had happened. Shinji did feel somewhat exasperated by the stupidity of Kensuke in going out alone, but couldn't stay angry with him given the look of utter misery on his face as he admitted how badly he had screwed up.

God only knows _he_was hardly the person to shout at someone for making a stupid decision in his life...or lives for that matter.

"Its okay, look, I'm sure you're not going to do anything like this again" Shinji assured him, to a surprised but frantic nod of agreement in return.

"Then let's just go to class" he declared as the school bell rung in the day.

Classes passed somewhat better then he had hopped, he was even able to catch up on his sleep for an hour or so. Rei wasn't present which was hardly abnormal, but Shinji couldn't help but worry about her as he knew his Father had returned to Tokyo-3 last night, and some of the questions the Vice Commander had asked him after the battle had been _about _Rei.

Kensuke extended an invitation to both him and Toji 'camp out' with him over the coming weekend up in the mountains, which both declined, Toji because he didn't relish the idea of playing soldier and 'roughing it', and Shinji because it brought back too many memories of the last time he had run away.

Kensuke didn't appear to be put down in the slightest though. Kensuke was utterly capable of fighting a pitched battle that would make Waterloo look like a slight skirmish entirely by himself, Shinji knew.

Finally the last bell of the class ended and the school day ended.

"Oh thank the LORD!" Toji shouted with a whoop as the class finished Hikari's perfectly choreographed 'stand, bow, sit!' routine as their teacher left. "Lets get _out _of here, that new arcade opened today and Shinji has money to burn-"

"_Not _so fast" Hikari cut in suddenly, appearing magicly out of nowhere and freezing the trio of young men as they stood "You three are on cleanup today".

"Oh come on class Rep, I just DID it!" Toji bemoaned.

"You haven't done it in a month" Hikari said without the slightest hint of mercy in her tone. "Now GET TO WORK!"

Toji whimpered rather pathetically, strangely Shinji noticed both Toji and Kensuke's hands almost unconsciously moved up to protect their right ears for a second at Hikari's tone.

_That _he had to ask about later, he had a feeling it would be amusing.

In the meantime…he sighed and headed for the cleaning supplies. This shouldn't take too long. He had gotten very good at cleaning, living with Misato after all.

* * *

A significant distance away, Rei Ayanami floated in a tank of LCL in the basements of Central Dogma. The tube was small enough and Rei was inside it for long enough that if she had suffered from claustrophobia, it would have been a most unpleasant experience, but such concerns were mostly an irrelevancy to her. 

It was her first time back inside the tank since her injuries during Unit Zero's activation tests and she had found it slightly painful to remove the bandages that had swathed her body, then expose the still tender new skin to the cool LCL, but she had endured it and put aside the pain. Indeed, if anyone had stopped to look at her, they would have probably guessed she was asleep, her eyes shut and her hair lazily moving in the tank currents.

Rei in fact wasn't asleep, just in a state of deep contemplation, grateful for the time alone to think, helping to put her thoughts into order…especially her increasingly confusing thoughts about Shinji…

_When did I start thinking of Pilot Ikari as Shinji? _Rei asked herself with a slight amount of confusion, before putting that question aside to continue her train of thought.

She did not understand why she had felt the emotions she had yesterday, as both of them had hurried to NERV headquaters, nor why she had felt an overwhelming compulsion to touch him…

She had studied his face out of the reflection of the window as they had driven down, mostly out of curiosity following their talk on the rooftop. His claims that he owed his Father nothing, despite the fact that Shinji would not exist without him had troubled her deeply for some reason she did not understand.

She had seen the lines of emotions passing across his face, the way his right hand kept becoming a fist…

Fear…

This she understood.

Rei understood fear, but she had always suppressed hers as an irrelvency that hindered her purpose of piloting Unit Zero. Could not Pilot Ikari do the same?

He could not.

But perhaps she could help him…

And so she had reached out her hand, slowly and almost unsure, laying her hand across his warm, sweat covered palm…

She had felt his muscles tense, as if she had touched him with a live power cable…but then she had felt his racing pulse slow under her hand….the muscles slowly relax, as the pilot of Unit One mastered his fear.

Then, because she had seen other students in her class do it, she had gently held his hand with hers.

He had not resisted.

_It was not an unpleasant feeling_ she decided, recalling the shiver of contact that had passed through her body as they had intertwined their fingers and their hands had become one, letting the memory of that feeling wash over her again as she floated.

_Is this what it feels like to…care…for someone? Ikari's stated purpose is to protect me…is mine to protect him?_

"Rei…"

She let the memory go as she recognized the voice, feeling it recede like a leaf on the wind before opening her eyes.

The Commander was standing in front of the tank, a slight smile on his face that Rei returned, almost automatically…but strangely, no more feeling then that.

"Commander" she said softly in greeting.

"How are you?"

"My recovery is approaching completion" she replied, audio pickups inside the tank broadcasting to outside and vice versa. "I expect to be ready for piloting duties ahead of schedule".

"This is good" the senior Ikari said. "Doctor Akagi has informed me that thanks to the less then expected damage to Unit One in both combat deployments, more resources have been allocated to re-activating Unit One, we are bringing the schedule forward by three days".

"Yes Sir" she acknowledged a tiny thrill of the fear she had felt from Shinji shivering through her body before she suppressed it.

"And…how are things going at school?" Gendo asked in a tone that caused Rei to incline her head ever so slightly. There was some kind of strange…note in his voice at that question.

"There is little change. The Third Childs identity was uncovered within seconds of his arrival by several classmates…and I believe the probability is my own identity was compromised when we left the school headquarters".

"Unfortunate, but irrelevant" Gendo dismissed her report with a flick of his fingers, crossing his arms. "And how are you and the Third Child getting along?"

Rei almost replied with the truth, that he had suggested she was unique, that he owed nothing to his father and by logical extension, neither did she...but something stayed her response.

She traced the feeling and came up with a tiny sliver of doubt, like a pebble in a lock that prevented a door from closing.

This doubt whispered that his viewpoint was fundamentally incompatible with the reality she had accepted; that she was logically proven to be a unique individual, where as the Commander had suggested he would replace her without question.

This doubt hinted that if she suggested she might not owe her life to the Commander…he would replace her with another one of her Sisters who did.

This doubt suggested a slightly different answer might be justified and Rei Ayanami did something she had never done before.

She omitted information from her commander.

"The Third Child is a skilled pilot" Rei answered instead. "I believe I have learned significantly from his combat sorties".

"Has he made any attempts at romantic involvement ?" the Commander asked bluntly.

Rei inclined her head with a curious look.

He_ has not…but would my initiation of hand holding count as romantic involvement? It does appears to count as a romantic gesture with many students at school._

_But he did not initiate the contact, I did _she decided. _And my contact was not romantic…was it?_

"No" she simply answered, then waited a few seconds. "Should I initiate romantic contact with pilot Ikari?"

Gendo blinked.

"No…that will not be necessary" he managed to say in a level tone. "That is enough for today Doctor".

Akagi didn't answer, but simply triggered the draining sequence that removed the LCL, then opened the tube. Rei, naked buy as always utterly unconcerned, stepped down and headed for the nearby changing room, the scars on her body now far less visible then they had been.

"Well?" Gendo asked coldly after the door shut behind Rei.

Akagi sighed and brought up the readings.

"Its difficult to tell, but I can say that the right hand side of Rei's brain is far more active then it ever has been, suggesting a great deal more emotional activity then before".

"Why?"

"It would only be speculation".

"Then speculate" he ordered, sounding impatient. Akagi sighed.

"My guess is that she has developed some level of feelings and emotion, though she is still suppressing them to a large extent".

"Why?" Ritsuko shrugged, leaning back against the console.

"Impossible to say at this time. She is still mostly human, despite the DNA from Lilith that was spliced into her genome and she is starting to go through puberty".

"Her medication is supposed to suppress her reproductive systems" Gendo glared at her, as if it was all her fault.

"And it is, her menstrual cycle has been effectively halted, but she retains elevated levels of hormones running through her bloodstream I can't suppress without a massive chemical assault that might cause major damage".

"Unacceptable" he declared.

"Unavoidable" she retorted.

Gendo simply stared at her, before nodding curtly.

"Very well. What are the chances that this increased activity is being stimulated by her interactions with the Third?"

_How the hell should_I _know _was the answer that came to mind. _Are you jealous your Son might be playing with your dolls behind your back?_

Akagi wasn't stupid enough to say that of course.

"I have no idea, though in his initial time at NERV he was quite insistent in seeing her. Why do you ask?"

"Never mind" Gendo grunted in a tone that dismissed the whole line of thought. "Have the Dummy Plug basis framework ready within two weeks" he ordered, turning without waiting for a reply to swipe his card through the reader on the wall, then step through the blast door into the brightly lit passageway, his glasses tinting deeper to adjust for the light as he left to the nearest elevator to his office.

He decided to not act on the disturbing report from Fuyutsuki for now. Shinji's effectiveness in battle could not be denied, not the fact that the primary motive he had undertaken for piloting Unit One was to protect Rei, his amusingly transparent 'blackmailing' for a significant financial gain aside. Upsetting that balance could have very significant negative repercussions down the line.

He would watch Rei carefully. If Shinji wished to pilot to protect her and stand by her, he did not find it problematic at all with his scenarios.

But he would have to watch Rei carefully. There were things about NERV and herself that it would not do for Shinji to find out.

If she ever got close to that point of revelation, he would simply arrange a replacement.


	7. Ramiel

A temporary structure had been thrown up inside a valley at the very edge of Tokyo 3, a valley that until a week ago had been known for nothing more then a series of rice paddies and a small dirt bike course used by teenage boys to show off for swooning girls.

The aforementioned teenagers had been left rather annoyed with the armed camp that their stomping grounds had turned into, with access into and out of the valley limited to authorized military personnel only. Heavy lift vehicles occasionally darted to and from the structure at the base of the valley carrying oddly shaped burdens under thick coverings, convoys of HMMWV vehicles escorting them to a nearby military airbase where giant cargo aircraft dispersed their loads far and wide across the globe to the US, Germany and China.

In any other part of the world, the secrecy and high military presence would have probably attracted a great many question marks from the general population.

In Tokyo-3 however, it was pretty much par for the course.

"So this is what the enemy looks like up close" Shinji Ikari muttered with a strong feeling of deja'vu from inside the temporary structure, staring once again up at the gigantic figure of the 4th Angel, covered and tied down like some improbable Guliver in the same place it had crashed to the ground from their battle, albeit half disassembled.

"Yeah, it's impressive isn't it" Misato agreed in overly cheerful voice, which left Shinji wondering if it was something of a front for the simmering hate she directed at these things that had taken her Father from her. Regardless, the slightly pleased smirk on her face looked utterly genuine; the victorious General surveying the vanquished opponent on the field of honor. Her arms were crossed and her helmet hung loosely by its straps off her neck in complete defiance of the 'HARD HATS TO BE WORN AT ALL TIMES!' signs every ten meters along the walls.

"Very impressive!" another voice acknowledged Misato with equal cheerfulness from five stories above them on the catwalks. "This is just magnificent, with the exception of its Core, everything is perfectly intact, thanks!"

"You're welcome" Misato answered for the Operations Department –and Shinji- "so, have you found out anything?"

"Well yes and no" Akagi shouted back, then stood up. "Hang on, I need a break anyway".

As Akagi got on the extended cherry picker and started down towards them while making notations on her clipboard, Shinji wondered why NERV was spending so much in the way of resources in studying the Angels corpse.

After all, _he_ knew they already had two _live_ Angels to study, albeit with one of them reduced to embryonic form and locked in stasis. NERV's production of the Evangelions was proof positive to the real people in power in the organization that they had a fundamentally sound knowledge of the Angels biotechnology, given their duplication and perversion of it.

So what possible secret could the Angel be hiding have that would justify dismembering the corpse of the 4th?

The answer hit him as Akagi's platform stopped and she jumped the half meter to the ground with a surprising ease. He shut his eyes and cursed himself for missing the glaringly obvious answer.

_Of course_.

_The S2 engine._

"So have you found its power source yet?" Shinji asked as Akagi walked past, causing her hesitate in her stride slightly before turning into her small onsite office, tossing her hard hat onto the desk.

"Well something like that, to be sure" she shrugged, feeling strangely uneasy over the way Shinji had focused in on the one thing both Gendo and the Committee were demanding all efforts should be focused on recovering. "But we have no idea at all how it operates at this point".

"No idea at all?" Shinji asked with some surprise as he considered how in less then a year NERV had built at least _nine_ of the things…

"We had nothing more then theories as to what the Angels power source was until today Shinji" she lectured instead, taking a sip of her ice tee as she considered her answer. "You're talking about something the size of a car that can provide the same power output as dozens of nuclear power plants. To say it's beyond our current scientific understanding would be something of an understatement".

Agaki paused to take another sip of her tea along with her two guests, Shinji with a mineral water and Misato with a coffee, sighing slightly as the computer analysis came to a crashing halt with a '601' error flashing on the screen.

"What the heck does that mean?" Misato asked in curiosity.

"That's the MAGI code number for 'cannot be analyzed' the Doctor shrugged. "Angels come in all shapes and sizes which makes establishing a baseline to compare them with difficult. But from the few samples from the Third as well as preliminary results from the Forth, we've found a few rather interesting facts" Akagi drawled, almost lazily tapping a key which brought up a large colorful picture that meant utterly nothing to Shinji.

"No way" Misato breathed after a few seconds study. "Are you seriously saying…"

"That the structure and organization of the inherent wave pattern of the Angels biological material is almost a 100 match for that of the human genetic code?" Akagi said dryly, knowing Misato didn't have a clue what she was looking up, but touched that she was trying to look interested and patch up their rocky friendship.

"Could it be some kind of…parallel evolution?" Misato guessed hesitatingly. Akagi just shrugged.

"You wouldn't think so, as the evolutionary forces that acted to make Man what he is are quite distinct, where as the Angels exist on a scale that should render most human evolutionary concerns trivial …but still, this similarity remains".

"I guess there is just so much we still don't know about them" Misato sighed before frowning and looking around for the Third Child. "Hey…where'd Shinji go?"

Shinji was only a handful of meters away outside, watching from behind as his Father and the Vice Commander walked along to inspect the tiny fragment of the Angels core that had been recovered by ground teams scouring the area.

"This is all you were able to recover of the Core?" Fuyutsuki inquired as the fragment reached the ground with a deep 'thump' that betrayed the mass of the deceptively small looking fragment.

"Yes Sir" the lead technician apologized as the Commander knelt down before it and ran his bear hands over it, studying it carefully. "The positron impacts annihilated a great deal of the core material and fragmented most of the rest to almost microscopic levels".

"It's not a problem" the Commander dismissed the results, gripping his bare hands behind his back as he slowly stood. "Dispose of the rest and send this to the analysis facilities".

"Yes Sir!" the two officers bellowed, snapping a salute that Gendo didn't return as he worked to put his gloves back on, to hide the darkened and scared flesh on his palms.

_One, single, redeeming act_ Shinji cursed silently to himself as he considered those hands and the searing pain he knew his Father must have felt. _The one selfless –_and he admitted to himself, heroic- _act that beheld Rei to him tighter then any chain_, recalling the pair of glasses he knew reposed on her bedside table even now. The single, precious item she owned and valued because of his Fathers one blasted moment of human strength.

He had a feeling that he had at least convinced Rei that her life was worth living…that she needed to fight for it rather then simply assume she could be replaced.

But how to sever her trust from a man who had performed, what was by any measure a truly heroic act…

"Shinji" Misato suddenly said from beside him and causing him to jump, "what are you doing out here?" she demanded as he turned around.

"Uh sorry Misato, I was just thinking of running some ideas past the Vice Commander later and wanted to see if he could find a few minutes" he improvised on the spot.

Well it wasn't _quite_improvisation, he _did_want to talk to the older man at some point…possibly.

"What, I'm not good enough for you to talk to?" she teased lightly as she threw her arm around him and half dragged, half led him back towards the little office where, if the sound of muttered swearing was any indication, Akagi was having little success with her analysis.

"You'll always be good enough" Shinji replied, then to his annoyance realized he had responded from the heart by reflex to Misato's question, something he saw she realized from the twitch of a smile on her face before they turned back into Akagi's office.

_You have to hide your feelings better then that, Shinji! _he scolded himself. He knew he was already pushing his luck and had damn near given himself away yet again.

"Hokay, well we'll see you at later!" Misato called cheerfully shouted into the room as they passed, Akagi waving back somewhat absently as she scowled at the monitor.

Shinji was pleased to see the two women were apparently getting their friendship back to normal, he really was. But he wondered how long this detent would last given the horrible secrets he knew were lurking just under the surface…

"So you ready for school?" she asked, getting a nod back as they reached the door to the structure, exchanging their hardhats for their ID cards from a pair of NERV security officers. Passing through three sets of doors and a pair of heavily armed UN soldiers, who checked them off their own list, they exited the building and turned right, walking about a dirt track to a nearby car park that had been 'appropriated' by NERV for this operation. Misato's car –which surprisingly to Shinji still hadn't picked up a scratch since its recent service- was waiting there and they drove out to the main gate, where their ID's were again logged, _this_ time by a pair of JSSDF troops.

It was utterly typical of the paranoia and bureaucratic infighting around NERV and Tokyo-3 that there were three different military forces nominally under three different command structures guarding the same site. The NERV forces had the lightest weapons, but the greatest familiarity with the people working on the Angel itself of course. The UN had the most troops and heaviest weapons _and_were technically subservient to NERV on paper, but really talked to their own command. No-one was sure exactly _who_had invited the JSSDF to the party, except for the fact that a light infantry company had shown up citing orders on the same day the operation had swung into action. And though everyone _knew_ probably half of them were spies for the Japanese Government, by keeping them on the outer perimeter watching cars come and go, they were kept relatively harmless.

Misato never ceased to be amused by the whole damn thing…then he smiled dropped as she caught site of the clock.

"Argh, look at the time!" she moaned. "You're going to be late!"

_Oh no… _Shinji gulped as he recognized _that_ look in his guardians eyes, yanking his seat belt into place with a practiced haste.

"Hang on!" she shouted, then threw the gear stick viciously down and floored the accelerator.

The cars engine, overhauled to factory new condition only a week or two ago let out a great roar and Shinji was slammed back into his seat-

* * *

-and made it into class with exactly twenty four seconds to spare, still not sure if he should be thankful that Misato Katsuragi drove like an insane lunatic, who was under the impression that the _laws_ of physics were in nothing more then helpful _guidelines_... 

"Cutting it a little fine Shinji" Hikari commented with a raised eyebrow as he hurried through the door. He uttered an apology as he hurried past to his desk, dropping into his chair and gasping for air.

"Whoa, take it easy Ikari" Toji said in concern as the Third Child took deep breaths to slow his heart down, before starting to unpack his things. "Where _were_ you? We went by your place, but you and Misato were gone".

"NERV stuff" Shinji answered succinctly.

Not so much to keep his friends in the dark as because he was still desperately trying to get his breath back from running across the school yard and up several flights of stairs. Any further questions however, were cut off as their teacher arrived and Hikari did her usual 'Rise! Bow! Sit' routine.

Fifteen minutes later, their teacher once again started his usual pre-recess lecture about pre-second impact Japan. After recess they would actually get onto real subjects such as science, math and physics, but the first part of the day was always depressingly boring.

On the plus side however, it wasn't assessable, so the students didn't really _need _to pay attention either.

"Man I am so board" Toji groaned after fifteen minutes, albeit quietly to prevent the teacher from overhearing. "I think I'm going to get some sleep".

"Don't" Kensuke warned him out of the corner of his mouth while continuing to look straight ahead, "I think Hikari is looking for you to slip up just one more time before she destroys you".

"Why'd you think that?" Toji asked, fighting ever so hard to stop his eyelids from falling shut.

The Teachers voice was just so…hypnotic…

"I mean she's always steeling looks at you, when she thinks your not looking" Kensuke replied in a worried tone. "I really think you might have pushed it too far coming out after me like you did…I think she is just waiting for you to slip up again…"

Shinji managed, somehow, not to snicker at Kensuke's conclusion given that he knew _exactly _why Hikari was glancing at Toji.

"Well, I don't think she'll be a problem today" Toji muttered back after the teachers gaze swept over the classroom, turning his own gaze on the clusters of girls around the room. Shinji followed his grim gaze and finally noticed that his female classmates all looked astonishingly depressed, for a Tuesday morning.

"Uh…what happened to the Girls?" Shinji muttered out of the corner of his mouth as the teacher grandly talked about old Tokyo before the tsunami and nuclear strike.

"They're all just depressed that the Summer Dance was canceled" Toji smirked. "The school broke the news before you got here…the screams from the Girls locker room were just amazing, I've _never_ heard that kind of noise before…"

Shinji cocked his head in thought and tried to recall this event, but only pulled vague hints and half memories that vanished when he tried to latch onto them, like trying to grab hold of a mist.

He_had_ been somewhat indifferent to school the 'first' time this had all happened. After all, he had only just decided to stay at NERV after running away yet again following the battle with the Forth Angel after all.

But a dance…a real dance, a social function where the highest levels of human interaction was on display…

_The possibilities_…he speculated to himself, glancing at Rei's empty desk…then doing a double take as he realized Ayanami was very much _at_ her desk and probably the only girl who didn't have a tragic look on her face. And after staring at her for a few seconds, it finally clicked in his mind why he hadn't even registered her presence.

Her face was uncovered, the large patch over her right eye…no check that, she didn't have _any_ bandages on at all.

Strange how his mind had associated Rei with the bandages again so readily…

Almost as if she sensed his attention, Rei's gaze flickered across from the window to return his gaze with her exotic, deep red eyes.

Shinji raised an eyebrow.

Rei…blinked, glanced _away _from him at the floor, then turned back to look out the window.

Shinji's smiled for a few seconds at the emotions that were clearly encroaching into Rei's mind.

_Excellent._

_And now to kick things into second gear._

"Was…there anything said about why the dance was canceled?" Shinji asked, turning his attention back to his friends and getting a slight frown from Toji who, like most males his age, viewed dances as confusing and disturbing events that drove the females of the human species into an unfathomable frenzy of utterly bewildering activity.

"I think it was because just under half the students here have transferred out over the last few weeks" Kensuke muttered after a five second pause while Hikari's face swept over the classroom like the omnipresent gaze of a security camera. "But it might just be that these Angel attacks have people too worried about sending their kids out at night or something…"

Shinji made a thoughtful noise which luckily Toji missed, his head –along with those of half the class- crashing flat onto his desk as he surrendered to the bliss of sleep.

* * *

The Principal of Tokyo-3 High number 4 was a relatively by the book man named Shinzo Suzuya whom Shinji had only met a couple of times in what he was increasingly thinking of as 'his first life'. The poor man had been put in the unenviable position of trying to run a school on the front lines of a war zone, with half his students vanishing in just over a week, from what had previously been the fastest growing city in Japan. 

The change would have probably broken a lesser man but the Principal had kept his school going with a steady, firm hand; combining classes too small to be viable and aggressively working to keep students here with their parents with some success, as the Angels became an increasingly accepted part of life for Japan.

At least until Rei had destroyed eighty percent of Tokyo-3 to stop the 16th Angel, heavily damaging the school and forcing all the kids to leave the city …

Shinji halted and bowed to the Principal as he reached his desk, the Principal closing the folder he had been reading to gaze across levelly from his massive chair at the student who had entered his abode.

Shinzo Suzuya knew perfectly well that the Evangelion pilots were effectively 'above the law' for all intents and purposes; their value in defending the entire species from destruction meant the school had been instructed in no uncertain terms to extend a _great_ amount of latitude towards them if they did anything short of first degree murder.

So far, Suzuya had been pleased that this latitude had not needed to extend _that_ far.

Oh to be sure he had a dozen armed men on school grounds now, but they were professionals who were unfailingly polite and, oddly, did a better job in serving lunch, cleaning windows and answering phones then most of the people he had previously hired for those jobs. Rei Ayanami was a rather strange one according to her teacher; apparently the child had perfect recall and an intellect that easily rated on the genius level on the few times she had been encouraged to participate…but she just didn't _care_ about anything.

This young Shinji Ikari however who had come from nowhere to become the talk of just about the entire school over the last month was…odd.

Staring at him now, the Principal shrewdly decided it had to be his eyes.

They were not the eyes of a child.

The child had been burned out of this young man in a crucible he shuddered to imagine, leaving the steady, calculating eyes of someone who had seen far more then any human should have.

And damn these Angels for taking that innocence.

"Mister Ikari" he finally spoke up after studying the student waiting for a dozen seconds patiently in front of his desk. "What can I do for you today?"

"I'm sorry for intruding" Shinji said, "I was just wondering why the Summer Dance had been called off…and if there was any possibility of it being put back _on_again?"

Shinzo cocked his head slightly at the curious question, but shrugged mentally.

"Well it's quite simple. The insurance costs of such events have gone up astronomically since the Angel attacks started. If several hundred children were killed by one of your Angel friends in a surprise attack during the dance, for example, the venue holding such an event would face a rather stiff liability claim. And that's on top of the fact that just fewer than fifty percent of the students at this school in your year have transferred out".

"But I thought acts of war weren't covered under insurance laws" Shinji wondered out loud, a hazy recollection of a conversation with Misato about collateral damage coming back into his mind.

"Very true, I'm glad to see you are listening to your teacher's discussions about the wars following second impact" Shinzo replied with a knowing chuckle that caused Shinji to blush slightly. "But the fact is that without an insurance company willing to cover the dance, it is legally impossible to rent a suitable venue".

"What about using the school?" Shinji suggested. "The gym is-"

"Large enough, yes" Shinzo interrupted as he tossed the papers he had been reading onto his desk. "But _our_insurance doesn't cover such an after hours event either".

"But…if the insurance _could _be arranged" Shinji said carefully, "then the dance could go ahead?"

Shinzo studied Shinji for a few seconds, and then slowly nodded. "Certainly…but given the decline in student population, it would be a rather sparsely attended dance compared to previous years".

"So…invite all the students who left back for this dance?" Shinji countered, and then felt himself start to sweat at the raised eyebrow he had earned from the Principal.

Students in Japanese schools did _not_ address their teachers, let alone the _Principal_, so directly.

"Uh…sorry Sir" he stuttered as the old Shinji popped in for a second, his eyes glancing at the floor for a second to compose himself.

"It's okay" the Principal replied, dismissing his outburst as an irrelevancy as he leaned back in his chair and intertwined his hands behind his head. "But why should we invite them back for _our_schools dance?'

Shinji got the distinct impression he was being tested.

_You could take the classroom away from the teacher…_

"Uh well, it might help show to the parents that the city is still a safe place, that their decision to evacuate was impulsive? Possibly convince some to change their minds?"

"Logical" the Principal said after a few seconds thought, before turning his gaze back on Shinji. "It's still an academic question given the insurance situation...but I have a feeling you are a man of hidden resources, Mister Ikari. So I'll make you a deal; if you can figure out a way to get insurance sorted, the Dance will be back on, including invitations to the former classmates of your year".

Shinji smiled. "Thank you, Sir" he bowed deeply. The Principal nodded back as Shinji turned and left the room, past the secretary and into the hallway of administrative and teacher's offices.

Well that had gone better then he thought it might.

Now for the slight problem of convincing a major insurance company that it would be in its interest to not charge a foolish amount for a traditional school event…

Considered then discarding several approaches, he decided on the direct approach and pulled out his phone, scrolling through the contact list for the direct line to NERV's Vice Commander.

* * *

He was still waiting to hear back from Fuyutsuki as the last period of the day moved to a close. 

He had been quite supportive of Shinji's position, though he had hedged his bets by pointing out that NERV had no authority over matters the Japanese Government really should look into.

Which when translated, meant he was wondering if Shinji's request was worth the exerting of NERV's influence that would be required to 'convince' the insurance company that such excessive profiteering would not be tolerated.

Shinji was confident that things 'would happen' quite quickly. The Angel attacks were causing significant negative trends on the entire regions economy. And companies profiteering off the situation were already being aggressively attacked by the Government. If he knew both commanders at NERV as well as he thought he did, they would probably jump at the chance to drop a 'thought you might like to know' line with the people in Tokyo-2, allowing the Government to play the benevolent hero for the press, saving a school dance from the evil mega corporation…and storing up a favor with the people in Tokyo-2.

"Man…they all have such beautiful breasts!" Toji moaned in appreciation, jolting his train of thought away from the dance as his friend leaned out to get a better 'view' from their position on the basketball courts sideline, causing one of the distant adolescents to indignantly complain about Suzuhara 'ogling' them.

_Not even _God_ could help Toji if Hikari heard _that.

Shinji glanced around and up, squinting at the slender figures and trying to find Rei among them. Strangely he didn't see her in her usual place; sitting alone in one the corner of the wire fence as she simply waited for the PE time to end.

So where was she?

"Hi Shinji!" a distant voice, one he didn't recognize called down faintly, accompanied by one of the girls in the tight cluster waving almost shyly. Without thinking, Shinji returned the wave in what he had _thought _was a friendly manner…only to cause the aforementioned Girl to clutch her hands together and turn to her friends, all of whom started to almost jump around and…what?

"Damnit Ikari, why are all the hottest women in this town head over heals about you?" Toji sighed, turning away from the girls to flop back against the concrete wall they were leaning against.

"It's the Evangelion" Kensuke shrugged. "Chicks _dig_that thing".

"It's your fault for showing that video file of him fighting that Angel to everyone!" Toji growled. "He's got the hottest Girl in the class going for him now and-"

"Woah, back up!" Shinji demanded, shaking his head as alarm bells started to ring. "What are you talking about?"

Toji just looked at him like he had asked 'why is two plus two four?'

"Dude, that was _Chihiro_" Toji said in an astonished voice. "I mean couldn't you tell by the size of her…" his voice trailed off, but Shinji took the hint.

_Great_he sighed. _As if I don't have _enough _to worry about._

He knew a little about Chihiro, though he had probably never said more then a dozen words to her. She had been widely considered to be the most attractive girl in class, the person most boys wouldn't _dream_ about under the assumption that they didn't even have a chance of a fantasy encounter with her.

At least until Asuka had shown up, stripping Chihiro of the crown without so much as a 'by your leave'.

_And he had waved back…_

Based on his limited understanding of women, this could be taken to mean anything from 'hi there' to 'yes I would like to marry you'…

"Not interested" he shrugged, turning back to the game.

He felt the stares of his friends.

"Not…interested" Kensuke echoed, his tone suggesting this was a concept he had great difficulty understanding.

"Nope" Shinji shrugged. "Too much of an airhead".

Kensuke's look suggested he saw no problem with this factoid, but further conversation was cut off as the school PA activated.

"This is your principal" Suzuya's voice came down, causing the heated basketball match to grind to a halt and the splashing from the direction of the pool to cut off. "I am pleased to announce that contrary to earlier announcements, the Spring Dance for classes 3-A through 3-G is now back on again, two months from today. That is all".

The groans from the young men around him were easily offset by the almost hysterical screams from the girls.

Even at this distance.

"Oh Man, this sucks!" Toji groaned out. "I thought it was canceled!"

Shinji made a mental note to thank the Vice Commander after school when he went to Headquarters. All other things being equal, this put the dance squarely in the middle of the long, 'boring' period between the Seventh and Eight Angels, right before the class were due to leave for their trip to Okinawa…which was probably the best time for it.

And perfectly, it was roughly one month after a certain person was due to arrive in Tokyo-3…

"Well…" Shinji said, glancing around and lowering his voice. "Can you guys keep a secret?"

Ten seconds later, a horrified scream of "TRAITOR!" echoed across the quadrangle.

* * *

Rei Ayanami climbed out of the pool, the cool water cascading agreeably off her body as she worked her way up the rungs of the ladder. Her recovery had been accelerated through the use of hormone supplements over the last few days to mesh up with Unit Zero's own accelerated recovery, leading for the first time to her entering the pool in PE class; to let her body move its muscles in the soothing actions of lap swimming. 

There had been some pain, but it was a low burning pain that let her know muscles that had not been exercised in a long time were once again being forced into the well honed state she held her body in, working out the stiffness and letting blood flow until the pain faded into a satisfied ache that told her, her body had finally recovered.

As she climbed out of the pool and reached for her towel, she became slowly aware of the situation around her. Classmates were jumping and hugging each other, more then a few crying and laughing at the same time…an explosion of emotion as foreign to her as Evangelion piloting would be to them.

As she dried her hair, she listened and absorbed, struggling to understand the subtleties...then cocked her head as she plucked a familiar name out of the conversations around her.

_Shinji…_

Pivoting as she dried her hair, she focused in on a group of her classmates at the far end of the pool that overlooked the basketball courts and playing fields far below. One of them, Classmate Chihiro was jumping around with an excited look on her face, a half dozen other classmates around her laughing and giggling.

Rei cocked her head and eliminate all other noises to focus in on their conversation in curiosity.

"…perfect person for the dance, I mean he's polite, smart, I hear he is RICH and he's so brave piloting that robot. Everyone is just going to die when I drag him in on my arm!"

Rei's eyes narrowed several millimeters, a reaction few would notice and fewer would understand. She walked along the end of the pool to the fence, two dozen meters down from Chihiro to direct her gaze down towards the basketball court.

Immediately, she picked out Shinji…Pilot Ikari…sitting next to classmates Suzuhara and Aida on the sideline of the game currently reeling back and forth on the basketball court. Strangely as soon as she stepped up to the wire, she _felt _his gaze shift around to lock onto hers with a click, followed by him raising a hand and waving at her.

She heard another wave of laughter and giggling from down the far end of the pool but ignored it before she slowly raised her own hand and waved once in reply, sensing rather then seeing the slight smile on his face in response.

Presently, the laughter died as her classmates slowly realized Shinji's head had turned to look at the _other_ end of the pool, wave then turn away as Rei herself turned away…to find Chihiro looking at her with an expression that even Rei could recognize as hostile.

Ignoring it, Rei turned away and continued to dry her hair off…analyzing a strange feeling that had come to mind at the look of hostility on Chihiro's face.

_Satisfaction?_

* * *

Toji and Kensuke both remained shocked over Shinji's admission that he might have possibly done something to get the dance back on, but –grudgingly- promised that the secret would go no further then it already had...even if they were not quite able to keep the looks of surly betrayal off their faces. 

Instead, Toji had taken his emotions out on the basketball court in a whirlwind of goal shooting, running, whirling and dunking that left Shinji, not for the first time, wondering what kind of Evangelion pilot the Forth Child would have made…

Not that Shinji had the _slightest_ intention of letting Toji get within a half kilometer of Evangelion Unit Three of course.

"Well, cheer up" Kensuke sighed as the tired boys slowly climbed the long concrete steps back up towards the school. "The dance isn't for a couple of months".

"Yeah, we might even get lucky and an Angel might destroy the dance hall" Toji said in hope.

"I don't think Angels really mark human social venues as their primary targets" Shinji pointed out as they reached the top of the stairs and headed into the changing rooms.

"Pity" Toji sighed, grabbing a towel and heading for the shower.

A quick shower later and Shinji had changed back into his uniform, hurrying to dry off before changing back into his school clothes.

"So Shinji, who are you going to take?" Toji asked the question most of the guys were asking each other. "I mean you have so many women to choose from".

"Eh?" Shinji asked as he struggled into his shirt.

"Well Chihiro is clearly interested. Then you have Rei who actually _waved_at you-"

"Don't forget Kana" Kensuke put in with a grin as he set his glasses back on his face.

"How would you like a snack Aida?" Toji asked politely, his hand slowly tightening into a fist. "A nice, fresh, knuckle sandwich?"

"Pass" Kensuke said, taking a step away. "Oh yeah, there's always Misato…"

"She's my guardian, not my girlfriend" Shinji replied with an amused tone…though for some reason the image of Misato in a silky black evening dress on his arm was now continually banging its way into his thoughts and stubbornly refusing to leave…

"Hey…that's it! Misato!" Toji snapped his fingers! "Shinji, do you think you could ask her for me?"

Shinji simply gave him a level stare that said 'ask her yourself! I ain't touching this!'

Toji sighed, leaning against the wall and running his hands through his hair.

"Come on guys, let get out of here" Shinji offered. "We can think about this tomorrow".

"That's the smartest thing you've said all day Kensuke agreed, shutting his locker and heading for the door. Shinji and Toji cleaned up their own lockers and headed for the exit, only to have Kensuke suddenly return, looking ashen.

"Uh Shinji, you might want to go the long way" Kensuke muttered. "Chihiro is out there with a half dozen of her friends just…waiting".

"Oh…snap…" Shinji muttered, shutting his eyes and thumping his head against a convenient locker.

The dull ache that resulted felt surprisingly good.

"Let's go the long way" Shinji suggested after several seconds consideration. The trio retracted their steps to the exit onto the sports field. Kensuke poked his head out, 'commando style', glancing around before looking back and pumping his arm.

"Clear! Go go go!"

There were no girls waiting in ambush and the trio hastily made their way along the side of the building towards another entrance, up the stairwell and back to class.

Most of their class was still either getting changed or on their way –slowly- from the change room, so few people had arrived back by the time they came running down the corridor. Hikari, miss efficiency herself was just arriving, looking slightly surprised –and suspicious- at the direction they had come from, but before she could open her mouth to ask where they had been, Toji and Kensuke had sprinted into the room and the dubious safety therein.

Shinji didn't follow, instead skidding to a halt as Hikari approached the door.

"Um Hikari, can I have a word with you?"

She frowned at the unusual request, but nodded, stepping away from the door and following him to the unused classroom behind their own.

"Yes?"

"I wanted to talk to you about the Dance coming up" Shinji started, "about partners for the Dance".

"Shinji..." Hikari said hesitantly, "I'm flattered but…I…"

"Oh no no no, I'm not asking _you_out" Shinji said in a hurry…then kicked himself at the hurt look that passed through her eyes.

Regardless of if she _wanted_ to go with him or not, that was not exactly the most tactful thing he could have said.

"I mean I already know you and Toji will be together there" Shinji hurriedly said on pure reflex…causing Hikari's jaw to drop, her face to flush red and her gaze to shift around the room wildly.

_Clap…clap…clap_

_Oh Bravo Shinji_ a voice snickered from inside his mind. That_ was subtle! _

Shinji swore fluently in his mind as he gazed at the furiously embarrassed Hikari, remembering it had been _half a year_ until this very shy girl had finally admitted to Asuka –and then Asuka had loudly complained to him- that she had had a huge crush on Toji for a very long time.

"Is…is it that obvious?" she whispered in a mortified tone.

"Actually…I had no clue until Rei told me a few days ago" Shinji improvised on the spot, getting a confused look from Hikari as he hastened to explain. "She doesn't see the world in the same way we do. Some things that are clear as day to you or me she can't understand…and other things few people can see are as utterly straight forward to her".

"Does…Toji…" she muttered in a tiny voice…

"I think Toji thinks you are just looking for an opportunity to destroy him" Shinji said with a twitch of a smile, causing Hikari's shoulders to slump even further. "_But_ I also know he is terrified of this Dance, because he doesn't think he has anyone who would want to go with him".

A look of surprise and hope slowly started to replace the embarrassment on her face.

"Do…do you think he might go…with me?" she asked timidly, reminding Shinji of someone testing the temperature of a bath with their toe before getting in.

"I'm sure I can nudge his thoughts towards asking you out…you might just want to try smiling a little at him every now and again instead of shouting though".

Again a flush came to her face, but this time she straightened up and a slight smile came across her face.

"Shinji I…thank you" she said, looking like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"It's no problem" he smiled, and then inclined his head as a thought came to him. "You know…I hear you are a hell of a cook".

"Well I know a few things" she said deprecatingly, but with a flash of pleasure that her reputation had apparently reached to even the newest kid in the class.

"Toji is utterly hopeless at making lunch for himself and his Sister" he pointed out in a bland voice. "If you wanted an easy way to get his attention…"

Her smile widened and impulsively, she reached over a gave him a quick hug.

Shinji briefly hugged her back before letting go, enjoying the feeling of the simple gesture of friendship that didn't have any further implications, for once.

"Anyway" she said as she stepped back, "what _did_you want to talk to me about for the Dance?"

"Two things" Shinji said. "Firstly Chihiro. She's a …nice person, but I don't really feel anything for her" he commented, causing his stock to rise even more in Hikari's eyes, who far from approved of the all too aggressive girl. "So I was wondering if you could spread the word that I have someone I've already asked someone to the Dance around the class."

"Have you?" Hikari asked with a slight frown, wondering if Shinji knew just how _many_ of his classmates would jump at the chance if he asked any of them out to this Dance.

After Shinji had just promised to help _her_out, she would be more then willing to help _him _out if he needed to find someone…

"No" he admitted. "But I really don't have time to think about those things right now…or dodge dozens of Girls in the corridors".

"I'll tell the girls you're off limits" she said with a twitch of a smile.

"Thanks Hikari. Oh yeah, second thing is I know how expensive these things can be for you…girls, getting what you're going to wear organized and all that. And I know the Dance is back on at short notice. So if any of the Girls are in financial difficulties…tell me and I'll arrange their parents or guardians to get enough money to cover the costs".

Hikari just stared at Shinji. Who _was_this person who was thinking about _everyone_ but _himself_ like some great universal problem solver, in between risking his life to protect the city from the Angels…

"I appreciate the gesture Shinji…but you are talking about a rather large amount of money here-"

Shinji quietly named the figure he was paid each month, causing Hikari's jaw to drop once again in shock before he continued with "so don't worry about _me_, I just want this night to go perfectly…everyone here deserves to find a moment of happiness in the middle of this damn war".

Hikari just nodded, her mind reeling over this side of Shinji she had never seen, deciding then and there he was simply too good for any of the Girls in their year.

"I'll…keep my eyes open" she promised simply, getting a smile in return.

The pair left the classroom and returned to their own without saying anything more, most of the class had finally returned from their lockers with only a few stragglers outstanding. Shinji hesitated outside the room for a count of fifteen before he entered, so as to not give the wrong idea by returning with Hikari. Almost instantly, he heard the level of conversation from the girls chatting as they packed their schoolbags drop off but ignored it –and deliberately avoided looking anywhere near Chihiro- as he strolled over to Rei's desk.

"Ayanami" he said softly, causing her head to turn.

"Ikari" she replied in a neutral, but to Shinji's ears, slightly softer tone then she would use on most people.

"Are…you ready for the reactivation test this evening?" he asked, making the Eva pilot equivalent of small talk.

"I have prepared according to the schedule" she answered, which Shinji took to mean 'yes'.

"Would…you mind if I accompanied you to Headquarters to watch the test?" he asked.

To his stunned surprise, Rei didn't follow his question with the expected 'why', but simply nodded and said "I would…like that".

"Uh…then I'll see you at the gate" he stuttered, offering her a slight bow and heading for his own desk, taking care to put the slightest smile on his face as he did so that he hopped might scare off prospective Dates.

"Where did you go?" Kensuke asked in curiosity as he reached his seat, opening his desk to remove things into his bag.

"Just had a word with Hikari about…you know" he vaguely finished, throwing a significant glance at several nearby Girls.

"Ah" Kensuke said, for once with a sense of tact just leaving it there. "Well, are you still going to NERV after school?"

"Yeah" Shinji nodded. "Rei has her first major startup test today".

"Really?" he asked in surprise, before looking at Rei. "Hey Ayanami" he called out.

Rei turned to face him.

"Good luck today Rei!" he called out cheerfully.

Rei started, then nodded and turned back.

* * *

'_Good luck today Rei'…words from a classmate…given freely in comradeship and support…_

_Classmate Aida…he 'wished me luck' even though he had neither reason to…nor any advantage to doing so. Does He hope for a positive outcome…because he _values_ my existence and does not wish to see harm come to me?_

_Is this what it means to have friends?_

Rei continued to mull over the thoughts in her mind, before the class ended, a small part of her mind patiently listening to the teacher even if the vast majority of her intellect was focused on much deeper questions…as it had been for weeks now.

But it meant when the Class Representative called the dismissal, she was already moving to place the few items she had taken out of her bag back into it before starting to exit the classroom.

Shinji…pilot Ikari followed and made it all of two steps before Classmate Chihiro intercepted him.

A strange feeling coursed through Rei.

_Irritation._

Flicking her azure hair back into place from where the bangs had fallen over her forehead, Rei waited patiently for enough people to clear out of the classroom to let her begin heading towards the back of the room.

* * *

"Shinji-Kun" Chihiro said smoothly, sidestepping somehow across three rows of desks in the chaos as everyone stood up without warning to block his direct access to the door. "I don't think I had a chance to tell you how brave I think you are and how much I want to…thank you for saving us all". 

_I guess she doesn't believe in personal space _was all that Shinji could think as he froze like a dear in headlights as she come as close as she possibly could without touching him, all his confidence vanishing from the Chihiro's formidable physical presence.

It wasn't that she was _ugly_ by any measure; if anything, she really _was_one of the most beautiful girls in class. Her thick hair was brown and cut at shoulder length, framing a perfectly elfin face with classical looks, full lips and hazel green eyes that pieced Shinji and held him in place.

In addition to her figure, which as Toji had so subtly pointed out, was filling out rather quickly.

But even as Shinji catalogued her features that should have triggered some sort of sexual desire, a look into her eyes stilled anything he might have felt.

None of the affection she feigned reached them.

He knew enough about Chihiro to know she didn't want him because she found him to be a nice person; _he_ was just something to hang off her arm like a living, breathing, walking trophy. The legendary Evangelion pilot! Come one come all to see Chihiro and her new fashion accessory!

Even if he wasn't irreparably in love with Asuka, the thought of being a prized possession to be shown off like a piece of jewelry wasn't exactly appealing.

"Uh thank you, Chihiro" he said with a polite smile and half bow that showed friendship, but utterly no affection, "I appreciate it".

No reason to be rude after all.

Chihiro's eyes frowned slightly for a second, as if she didn't understand why he wasn't swooning, but before she could recalculate, another voice broke in.

"Shinji"

Chihiro's eyes went flat and her smile became somewhat brittle in Shinji's opinion as she stepped away a few centimeters to let Rei come forward, turning to shoot a smile at his 'Sister' that lacked the slightest warmth.

"Oh, Ayanami, I was just about to ask Shinji if he wanted-"

"We must go Pilot Ikari if we are to arrive at Headquarters on schedule to begin the test" Rei said in her usual flat tone, utterly ignoring the other classmate.

"Yes, of course!" Shinji nodded quickly, yanking his bag onto his back. "Sorry Chihiro, you know duty calls, bye!" he rapid fired out with a smile before dodging around the far side of the desk and making for the door at top speed, Rei, Toji and Kensuke following right behind and blocking the view as a spluttering Chihiro whirled, her short hair flaring as she tried to say something.

They didn't slow down until they were outside the gate and well down the street.

"That was close" Shinji sighed as they finally reduced their pace to a walk, noting with annoyance that neither Toji nor Rei were even breathing hard from the sprint.

"Man that look she was giving you…she wanted you bad Shinji…and I don't think she is going to take no for an answer" Toji smirked.

"Hikari will sort her out" Shinji said with confidence. "I don't think even Chihiro would cross the Class Rep".

"I don't think anyone would cross the Class Rep" Toji muttered.

Shinji held his peace at the slight hint of fear in Toji's voice.

Plenty of time to start 'Operation get Hikari and Toji together' tomorrow after all.

_Shinji Ikari. Pilot, student and matchmaker; Saving the world, one relationship at a time _he thought to himself.

Presently, they arrived at a Geofront access building a few hundred meters down the street. Built into the side of a moderately sized prefabricated Evangelion building, the access point was simply an outer door leading into a general waiting area that doubled as a bus stop, a dozen card reading devices like in train stations in front of ten centimeter thick doors providing access to authorized personnel to a bunch of elevators into the Geofront.

"Well I'll catch you both tomorrow" Shinji bade farewell to his friends, turning to look back at them…and noticing the group of people coming down the long hill in hot pursuit. "Hey…is that…"

The remaining trio turned to look at the distant figures, Kensuke raising his omnipresent video camera and hitting the zoom.

"Yup. Its Chihiro" he said, flipping out the small screen on the side of his camera. "And she brought backup".

"She just doesn't give up!" Toji said in a voice that mixed pity with admiration at the figures on Kensuke's viewfinder moving towards them, trying not to be distracted by the way certain female attributes were moving as they ran flat out down the hill.

_For the love of God…_Shinji thought with a groan.

This was getting insane.

"We must go" Rei said with a slight tinge of urgency, stepping through into the spacious atrium and holding her card ready as she moved for the closest barrier.

"We'll hold them off" Toji shouted, leading Kensuke back up the hill.

Stepping into the building after Rei who stepped through her gateway, Shinji reached for his access card…only to realize it wasn't in its usual place.

He franticly searched his pockets as time ran out, finally pulling it from his shirt pocket and slamming it through the reader.

Obediently the reader flashed green and locking bolts started to detach, too slowly for Shinji's mind as he willed it to hurry.

"Come on…come on…" he muttered as he heard a group of loud footsteps outside. The gate finally opened and he dove through, the sensors shutting it after him as he raced around the corner and out of site behind the other closed doors.

"Shinji-Kun…" a somewhat imperious voice echoed from the other side, but far too late as the gate slammed shut.

"_That_ was too close" he muttered after he heard the reassuring 'thud' of armor grade steel behind him, turning to hurry after Rei.

* * *

2010 AD

Doctor Naoko Akagi smiled at her daughter as she left the command center. She was growing up so fast. To Naoko, it was only yesterday she was at university working on her doctorate.

While she was understandably proud of her daughter's achievements, she couldn't help but sigh at her complete ineptitude in achieving any kind of real relationship. Their lively discussion where, like any good mother, Naoko had prodded her daughter about finding happiness had devolved quite quickly into her daughter protesting that first she had to develop a _definition_ for happiness.

Not to mention the almost smug tone in her voice when she had passed the news that Misato and that Kaji fellow had broken up.

Oh well. She could only hope that one day in the future, her daughter would grow up and find someone. Still, at least she _was_going out tonight…and who knows, perhaps Katsuragi's kid would show her a great time, set her up with someone in a wild night of passion and fun…

Naoko snickered and shook her head, a slight smile coming across her face. No, Ritsuko was a dispassionate scientist. She would never just let herself go…

_Not like I have with Gendo _the Doctor smiled to herself, feeling slightly naughty just thinking about it, when a door to the command center hissed and whirled open.

Feeling vaguely embarrassed at her daydreaming, Naoko turned around wondering what her daughter had forgotten.

To her surprise, Rei Ayanami was standing in front of her, in that same red and pink dress she always wore.

Just staring at her.

Putting a smile on her face, she leaned down slightly, as if bringing herself down to the Childs level.

"Did you want me for something, Rei?" she asked warmly, wondering, not for the first time, _who _she was.

Rei simply stared at her with all the emotion of a refrigerator, waiting several seconds before speaking.

"I lost my way, Doctor" she said simply, her stance and expression not changing one wit.

The tone and the attitude were so…alien from what she would have expected from a child it was actually slightly disturbing…even more so when on further reflection she thought she could almost sense Gendo's inflections in some words.

Pushing her unease to the side, she spun the chair around and stood up, deepening her smile.

"Well, do you want to come with me then?" Akagi said with a chuckle at the very serious adult attitude the child put forth.

Rei simply regarded her levelly.

"That is okay".

Now Akagi let a frown come onto her face. The complex they were in was utterly gigantic and unless you knew your way around, you could become hopelessly lost in a _very_ short time.

Even so, especially up in the areas of the base like this command center, security guards made regular patrols. Rei shouldn't have been allowed to get so lost.

She made a mental note to talk to Gendo about scolding those rent-a-cops, before she sighed and decided to try and use logic on this strange young child.

"But how will you get _home _all by yourself?" she asked, her tone changing almost without her realizing it to 'kid talk' of the type she had used on her daughter so many years ago…

Rei however was not impressed.

"That's none of your business" she scoffed, in such an adult dismissive tone, loaded with contempt that Naoko felt pushed back a step, before she added "Old Hag".

Shock passed through Naoko, along with the first stirrings of anger at this insolent child, before she got herself under control.

"Old Hag…"

"I can find my way home by myself, Old Hag" she repeated in a tone that suggested she was lecturing a very slow student who couldn't grasp such a simple concept.

The combination of the adult tone and child's body chilled Naoko Akagi.

"You shouldn't call someone an Old Hag Rei" she retorted, the warmth gone from her voice, with the slightest current of danger under it that Rei either ignored or found irrelevant.

"But you are an Old Hag, aren't you?" Rei asked, as if in slight confusion.

"I'm getting Mad" Naoko replied, then grew even angrier at herself for making such a blunt, inelegant statement. "You need a good spanking from Director Ikari you little-"

"That's what he calls you" Rei cut her off in the same monotone…her words hitting with the force of a sledge hammer and drawing an involuntary shudder from the Doctor as her face actually expressed a smile, as if she was pleased to pass on her information.

_No…no, she is just a stupid little-_

"He says, that Old Hag is annoying, that Old Hag is no use anymore. He doesn't need that Old Hag Anymore…"

And as Rei spoke, another voice, very similar but much deeper started to overlay the echoes of Rei's statement in her mind as Yui Ikari whispered gleefully into her mind.

("That Old Hag is annoying"-)

("That Old Hag is no use anymore"-)

("That Old Hag is annoying"-)

The connection she had always suspected between Rei and Yui inflamed her as she stared at the smiling face of the child in front of her, seeing both one and the other at the same time, as the woman Naoko Akagi finally realized she had lost to, in her competition for the heart of Gendo, mocked her utter failure.

She had been used from the outset.

Despite the sweet nothings whispered into her ears at night.

Despite the promises and looks at work when they both knew no-one was watching.

Despite everything he had promised her, said to her, he had in the end replaced Yui not with her…but with this…this…this DOLL! This COPY!

With a snap, the brilliant, dispassionate, scientific intellect of Naoko Akagi vanished into an infinitely deep pool of red as she leaped out of her chair in a rage, grabbing the doll and squeezing, sneering at the pathetic sound it made.

What she could never do, what she had been too cowardly to do against Yui…

_YOU LITTLE BITCH…YOU'RE REPLACABLE TOO! DID YOU KNOW _THAT_REI?_

She kept squeezing and squeezing until the pathetic sounds this thing made stopped and it was utterly still…still…still…

Yes…the thing bent over, its head lolling…the arms pointed perfectly towards the center of the Earth as gravity pulled them, utterly no muscle activity to pull them in any other direction…

She…she…had just killed Rei.

It then hit her as the red faded leading the pathetic body of a fellow tool of Gendo Ikari lifelessly dangling from her hands, before it fell, inert, to the floor of the command center as her shaking hands let go.

_What have I done…_ she asked herself again.

_I have outlived my usefulness _she thought through the dim shock. _There is…nothing left for me here, my…task is complete_.

_This all is up to my daughter now…_

Like all good computer scientists, she knew what was done when a program reached the termination code.

A loud thud echoed through the deserted command center a matter of seconds later as the head of Doctor Naoko Akagi collided with the hard protective cover over MAGI Balthazar, followed by utter silence.

At least for a few seconds.

The whirring of a door opening on the MAGI level soon echoed across the utterly enormous command center, followed by the rattle and clanking of a gurney being wheeled over to where the Doctors body reposed.

A team of white suited technicians hastily moved the body onto the gurney, stabbing a handful of syringes into the body and slapping a bandage over the rather impressive head wound before starting back out. At the doorway, another person in a slightly different white lab coat, with orange tinted sunglasses waited, falling into line.

"Unit Zero is waiting and I have already arranged the modifications to the A-10 connections, to repeat the sequence of events at the Third Branch".

"Wouldn't it be easier to simply dissolve the body like your Wife?" one of the men with the gurney grunted.

Few would have dared to ask such a question of Gendo Ikari in his lair…but the man brought in from outside for this business was a pet of Keel Lorenz who _did_ dare.

"We need the body back" Gendo pointed out bluntly. "I have arranged a window of thirty minutes to achieve this end".

"We'll make it" the man grunted, steering the 'corpse', death slowed down by the unholy cocktail of chemicals pumped into its bloodstream through the deserted passageways, then through several blast doors into the Evangelion Bay where Unit Zero, mostly completed was waiting.

Not that any of the people knew that the 'corpse' was actually semi-conscious as it was unceremoniously dumped into the entry plug.

* * *

2015 AD

Rei depressed her plug suit switch and the lightweight, flexible material contracted around her lithe form with a hiss, generating an airtight seal that would keep her dry when immersed into LCL, while still allowing the conductive link to the A-10 clips she in her hair.

Standing, she carefully placed her school uniform into her locker in its assigned place before closing the locker door, doing everything as carefully as she always did…everything exactly like last time.

'_REI! Rei…are you alright?'_

The voice echoed through her head again like it often did, bringing a rare, if slight, smile to her face for a few seconds at the memory.

The calm, assured powering up sequence moving along as the connections were made one by one with technicians crisply and efficiently moving down checklists.

The feeling of Unit Zero coming to life as limb by limb, section by section, power was routed through the electrical system, energy surging and dancing along Rei's nerves sympathetically with a tingling sensation.

The nerve connections engaging, tying her mind to that of the Evangelion.

The final sequences as the Third Connections were engaged, moving down towards the absolute borderline…closer closer…

PAIN!

BETRAYAL!

RAGE!

HATE!

ANGER!

Emotions had exploded from the Evangelion into Rei's mind, overwhelming the girl who had never dealt with such raw, primal feelings. One of the other pilots _might_ have been able to call upon their own raw emotions and fought back, throwing their will against the presence, but Rei could only scream a soundless scream in her mind as she was thrown away to a small corner of the connection, Unit Zero now powered up and raging for revenge.

Dimly she was aware of the alarmed cries of the people in the control center, but she simply couldn't force her body to respond as Unit Zero with a mighty heave, ripped free of the wall mount, the restraints never designed to hold against an enraged Evangelion unit. Seconds later, she felt and heard the power cable disengage and for a split second, thought she could feel Unit Zero start to grind to a halt.

Then the low level computer systems inside the Evangelion stepped in and switched over to the battery supply.

Through the pain, Rei managed to look up at the display windows, focused on the figures of Vice Commander Fuyutsuki Doctor Akagi and Commander Ikari-

IKARI!

Rei gasped again as the presence inside the Evangelion found a new focus for its anger, then felt pain sear down her arm as Unit Zero slammed its fist into the armored windows. And again. Trying desperately to reach the man standing aloof in the control room.

And again, its rage now focused tightly as the clock steadily ran down on its power supply.

_NO!_Rei thought, flinging her will desperately against the giants.

Unit Zero stumbled back a half dozen meters, appearing to those few watching and not cowering under their consoles to grab its head and shudder, as if a war was being fought inside it.

GO AWAY, ECHO

With a loud crack, explosive bolts fired, blowing away the armor plate behind the entry plug as high pressure nitrogen flooded into a small chamber under the plug itself, building for two seconds before the locking clamps opened.

Like a projectile from an air gun, the entry plug was flung up and clear of Unit Zero, a quartet of rockets igniting smoothly as it slowed.

Designed to throw the plug clear in a high ballistic arc with enough height and velocity for a parachute to deploy, the flight control computer inside the plug became rather confused when it crashed into a roof its programming had not accounted for, sliding along to the corner and crashing to a halt with Rei being thrown about and battered helplessly.

The entry plug computer stubbornly burned out the rockets in an attempt to take to the sky, dangerously heating the skin of the plug like blowtorches without the rushing air to cool it expected in a true ejection before with a splutter, the hydrazine flow cut off and Sir Isac Newton reclaimed his hold on the cylinder.

With no fanfare, the plug fell, and slammed into the ground, bouncing and skidding along to come to rest a few seconds before Unit Zero's battery power ran out and it shuddered to a mournful halt, the superheated exterior slowly, through conduction, heating the LCL inside.

If there was a part of her body that didn't hurt, Rei Ayanami could not easily name. The fall to Earth had thrown her around like a rag doll despite the shock absorbing abilities of the uncompressible LCL, the feel of bones snapping and contusions burning had driven her into the dark void for several long seconds, until she heard a screaming shout of pain from somewhere outside the plug...followed by the feeling of the LCL draining from around inside her, a weak coughing clearing her lungs and slowly dragging her back to awareness.

The plug door swung open and cool, fresh air flooded in followed by Commander Ikari, his hands smoking strangely, the smell of burnt flesh wafting through the plug.

"Rei!" he shouted. "Rei, are you alright?"

She raised her head, strength returning bit by bit as she turned away the pain wracking her body. She nodded slowly at the Commander, noticing the slight drops of blood coming from his own, blackened hands as she realized he had yanked open the superheated hatch with his bear hands…

"I see" he replied softly to her nod, a smile coming across his face as the pounding noise of the medical team arriving sounded from outside.

Rei, for the first time in her life, smiled back, now understanding, in part, why people did so.

Then the memory faded as she returned to the present, the past crashing up against the new reality that Shinji had so carefully placed into her mind.

_He used me…her…to kill Doctor Akagi…to goad a response that resulted in my…her…death at the same time._

_Yet he _saved _me_…_why?_

_Does he simply have a further use for _me_as opposed to another 'me'?_

Finding nothing but questions down this line of thought, Rei banished all her memories and questions ruthlessly to focus on the immediate, leaving the locker room for the testing facility.

* * *

"Rei. Can you hear me?" 

"Yes"

"We will now begin the Unit Zero Re-Activation experiment" Commander Gendo Ikari declared to the room and pilot, reaching up to set his glasses on his face properly. "Begin primary connection".

Rei felt that same tingle once again as power started to surge through circuits, parts of Unit Zero coming to life bit by bit as the technicians painstakingly cleared their checklists.

"Activation voltage has passed the critical point" Technician Ibuki called over the communications link. Rei felt, rather then heard, Doctor Akagi take a deep breath.

"Shift to Phase Two"

"Connecting the pilot to unit Zero" Aoba continued and a kaleidoscope of shifting patterns and colors surrounded Rei as the display panels went through a test cycle, then came up with the external display. Directly ahead of her, she could see in a strange repeat of events weeks ago, the same group of technicians working their consoles, the same three senior officers standing and watching…

_Where...is Shinji? _

Looking around carefully, Rei finally spotted two familiar figures off to the side, looking through a small window at her, zooming in with a thought.

One of the figures, Captain Katsuragi, held a drink in one hand and directed a level, but uneasy expression towards Unit Zero.

The other, Shinji Ikari was pressed right up against the glass and staring directly at Unit Zero…directly into the cameras point of view.

And he had a small smile on his face.

And although he couldn't see it-

Although no-one would ever know-

Rei gave the slightest smile in return.

"Come on Rei" Shinji muttered under his breath. He _knew_that Unit Zero was _supposed_to successfully reactivate, but his brilliant combat performances had accelerated the schedule several days.

And he knew just how…delicate…these things were…the smallest change…

Over the speakers around the testing bay, he could hear the slight tension in all the people involved in the operation.

"No problems detected in synchronization, level holding at fifty two point three nine".

"All nerve links completed".

"Central nervous system elements, nominal."

"Re-calculating…no error corrections required".

"Checklist is satisfactory up to twenty five nine zero".

_Here we go_ he told himself, feeling his grip on the railing in front of him tighten and sensing Misato tensing next to him as well.

"Approaching the absolute borderline!" Maya called and Shinji heard the slightest note of fear in her voice. "Two point Five more…One point Seven…One point Two…One point Zero…Zero point Eight…Zero point Six…point Five…point Four…point Three…point two! Point One-"

Rei felt the Evangelion.

This time, the mind deep inside the Eva didn't come burning up the back of Rei's head and pounding into her skull; this time the bindings Doctor Akagi had installed _controlled_ the presence.

But it was still there.

_Shadow!_

_Puppet!_

_Doll!_

The presence's thoughts were not so much words she could hear as ideas and concepts crashing against the mind barriers during that instant and eternity as the connection was established.

_I am not a doll _Rei thought back.

_You are a _tool_, a disposable, replacement copy of a dead person!_

Even a week ago, Rei would have not understood the insult and mocking for what it was. She would have simply suppressed it, forced the Evangelion to activate and ignored her.

But not this time.

_I am I _Rei thought back, with an utter certainty that surprised her. _I am not _her_. I am not _replicable_. I am _unique

_That_thought caused the presence inside the Evangelion to recoil in surprise, not vanishing, but pulling back, the mental image of a person narrowing their eyes and reconsidering flashing into her mind.

_He will dispose of you when he has no use for you._

_You can be replaced well enough…for _his_ purposes._

_Perhaps_Rei replied. _But I am not his puppet. Another has cut his strings_ she decided, then and there.

And with that thought, Rei pushed past the startled presence and took firm control of the Evangelion, banishing the other presence-

"-One point zero and rising!" Maya continued with a note of triumph in her voice. "Unit Zero has been successfully reactivated!"

"Roger" Rei quietly replied, noting the relief on the faces of the people across from her. "Beginning interlock tests".

Across from her, Shinji let out a breath he had been holding, probably for too long as the spots in his eyes started to dance.

* * *

The next two days passed in a blur for Shinji. Rei was absent from class undergoing non stop testing as Unit Zero was rapidly brought up to operational status. 

School continued in its normal dull way, even if his entire year of four classes was still full of hyperactive girls.

Hikari had clearly talked to them however, none of them bothered him anymore – though most clearly looked confused at precisely _who_ he had invited, given that every girl in the year had apparently logged onto the grapevine and found no matches, a quandary compounded when he had flatly denied it was Rei Ayanami, the only question he had answered on the subject.

Chihiro sulked, but Shinji found he could ignore her quite easily given that she made no further moves on him.

Even_she_ clearly feared the wraith of Hikari.

At lunch, the situation was normal for Toji insomuch as he had once again failed to _make_ any. Or more accurately, he _had_ made lunch, which Kana had liberated, because yet again he had failed to make _her _lunch.

The look the younger sibling had given her brother suggested he was increasingly on thin ice.

Hikari had stepped in, slightly nervously with a bento Box, to Toji's stunned surprise that he left him speechless for several minutes.

Not so much because he couldn't think of anything to say, but his mouth was full for quite some time, even if he magnanimously shared some with his sister, who had hugged Hikari tightly and asked her to move in, inadvertently causing Toji to nearly choke, Hikari to almost start stuttering madly and Shinji to almost…almost, send soda everywhere.

Fortunately, none of the 'almost's' had come to pass…but it was a damn close thing.

Eventually finishing up, Toji had actually exchanged more then a few civil words of thanks with the Class Rep, even offering a smile or two to Hikari, who had blushed rather cutely in Shinji's opinion, before she excused herself.

It probably hadn't hurt things any that Hikari was actually quite an amazing cook for a fifteen year old Girl.

Toji had then reflected that women were the strangest creatures on this planet…and that perhaps the Class Rep wasn't actually on a quest to destroy him, earning him a 'you just don't get it' look from Kana who had simply rolled her eyes and walked off in despair at how thick her lovable brother was.

Saturday however…

"What's happened to Unit One?" Shinji demanded in alarm as he walked onto the gantry around cage Seven to find Unit One covered in a scaffold, technicians swarming over it with more then a few armor plates missing as a few orange suited technicians actually walked and crawled _inside _the giant.

"Take it easy Shinji" Ritsuko said from next to him, with a cup of coffee in one hand and a clipboard in the other, sipping the former and reading the later with a critical eye. "We're just adjusting some of the internal electrical components. It was scheduled to be completed a few days ago, but we had to delay the final adjustment thanks to the Unit Zero reactivation being brought forward. We should have it ready in…oh…another couple of hours for the synch test".

_Oh this is brilliant _Shinji groaned inside his mind, regretting for one second that the Japanese generally were not taught to curse anything like as effectively as other nations, because no curse in his limited vocabulary, not even the few German curse words he had picked up from Asuka, appeared appropriate to the situation.

"Well…I guess I'll go get something to eat" Shinji muttered, getting a non committal noise in response from the Doctor, too deep into her clipboard to really care…or notice the look of utter dread on his face for that half second.

* * *

Out over the Pacific Ocean, a large, diamond shaped object floated towards Japans coast. A strange, high pitched note sounding every few seconds as it proceeded towards Tokyo 3.

* * *

"All personnel, go to First Stage Alert, prepare for surface to air interception" 

The alert from the JSDF had come through only two minutes ago, but this Angel had appeared much closer then the 4th Angel, only twenty kilometers off the coast. Ground based radar had spotted the enormous target instantly as it either rose from the sea or simply materialized from nowhere, guaranteeing a FIREFLY alert being declared in record time from its size, shape, speed…and the fact that it was motoring straight towards Tokyo-3.

"Evangelion Status?" Misato barked as the monitors showed the huge shape of the Angel live from a TV camera at low altitude over the mountains. It was probably the most bizarre Angel yet; where the others she had seen at least looked vaguely human or could shift into a vaguely humanoid form, this Angel was an utterly perfect Octahedron, its blue surfaced burnished to a perfectly reflecting mirror like quality as it floated from the South East towards Tokyo-3.

It looked suspiciously harmless compared to the monsters they had seen earlier really.

"Unit One is in the middle of a refit cycle Captain" Maya said with some alarm as technicians scrambled in to man the command center. "It will take at least forty minutes to abort the refit, replace the armor and make it combat ready"

"What about Unit Zero?" she demanded. Maya's hands flew over her controls.

"The reactivation was successful. There was a feedback error we found yesterday…but we managed to neutralize it. The unit should be fully operational".

"But we haven't had the time to reequip the prototype with combat rated armor" Shigeru warned as he looked over the status reports on their two Evangelion Units.

"It's all we've got" Misato said bluntly. "Prepare for launch"

"Roger" the technicians said in unison and started the process of unlocking the Evangelion from its cage and shifting it to the launch pad.

"Rei?" she called, causing a picture to jump up onto the main screen of Rei already in her entry plug.

"Yes Mam?"

"The target is approaching Tokyo-3"

"Yes Mam"

"You will be sorted to engage it through access route nine. Retrieve the pallet rifle from block Alpha nine, advance two hundred meters South and engage the target, but be careful, we don't know what we're up against here. Do you understand?"

"Roger" she acknowledged, before the window blinked off.

"The target is now penetrating Lake Ashi Airspace" Hyuga warned. Misato turned slightly to look at the Commander above them, who nodded calmly, clearly looking forward to watching his protégé at work for the first time,

"Eva Launch!"

Several things then started to happen very quickly.

Unit Zero was sent roaring towards the surface in a burst of EM energy, Rei noting but ignoring the G forces as tactical strategies, checklists and procedures rolled through her mind while she watched the tactical feed-

The fifth Angel slowed slightly as it passed over Lake Ashi to the south of Tokyo-3, banking slightly to a more northerly course as it sensed a threat rocketing towards the surface. In response, its S2 organ flared into life, feeding the enormous power generated into first it's AT field, then into the generation of high energy particles that collated into a thin band along its equator-

Shinji Ikari burst into the command center slightly out of breath, but unnoticed by any of the staff watching their screens-

"We're monitoring a high energy reaction, inside the target!" Shigeru called out in surprise as numbers rapidly started rising on his console-

"What?" Misato asked in surprise and not a little fear-

"It's collecting along its circumference" Shigeru continued as he tried to make sense of the data as it came in, the MAGI doing their best to crunch this new data in real time. "It's amassing upon itself and converging!"

"Oh no" Maya said in horror as the guideposts on the surface extended to receive Unit Zero, the band of blue light on the target becoming almost blinding as the Angle hovered patiently, one corner of the Octahedron pointed directly at Unit Zero's emergence point.

"REI! LOOK OUT! DUCK!" Misato shouted.

Rei's eyes frowned slightly as Unit Zero crashed to a halt, looking up just in time to feel a sudden spike of fear as a lance of fire reached out and slammed into her unit, followed by a sudden scalding wave of heat that tore an involuntary scream from her mouth as the particle beam vaporized its way through Unit Zero's inferior armor.

Before Misato could react, before _anyone_could have possibly reacted, Shinji Ikari was in motion, his fist reaching past a surprised Hyuga to crash down on the emergency retrieval button with a desperate lunge.

The locking clamps holding Unit Zero's platform in place retracted and gravity took hold, Unit Zero starting to slide back down the long, long lift shaft. Ramiel maintained its particle beam on target with a careful precision as the unit fell, trying to burn its way through, but not _quite_ able to succeed before its target retreated, a huge explosion being set off as the beam touched the ground, before the Angel ceased fire.

Almost as an afterthought, the building it had shot straight through to reach Rei finally melted into slag from the conducted heat, rather pathetically.

"Hey what the…Shinji-"

"Sorry" he apologized, "but I didn't have time to ask permission" Shinji apologized to Hyuga quickly, stepping back fro the console.

"It's a good thing you didn't" Maya put in as the numbers scrolled over her display. "Another two seconds of that beam and Rei would have been _vaporized_"

"Captain Katsuragi" the Commanders voice cut from above and behind them. "I am going to the cage to supervise the recovery, continue the operation" Gendo said before whirling and moving to his elevator.

_Yeah thanks for coming to look in on _me,_Father _Shinji thought darkly as the Commander vanished down the one man lift shaft.

"What's Rei's status?" Misato demanded.

"She's alive" Shigeru said, studying the telemetry from Unit Zero. "But…her brainwaves are extremely erratic".

"Increase power to the life support system!" the voice of Doctor Akagi came in suddenly from the speakers from her location down in the cage, where she was already preparing for Rei's arrival. "Give her a heart massage!"

"Roger!"

The life signs graphics tracing across the screens steadied somewhat.

"Life signs stabilizing" Hyuga said with some relief.

Down in the cage, organized chaos was underway as Unit Zero's fall was arrested in a scream of breaks in the shaft, crashing down onto the launch tracks and shuffled along to its bay, its previously pristine golden chest now a half melted, half shattered collection of armor around a single impact crater that stood in mute testimony to the awesome power directed against it.

"Unit Zero, secured" Maya's voice echoed over the cage speakers as Doctor Akagi choreographed the activity.

"Get the fire teams going now!" she snapped at the cage leader, causing fire teams in special suits to swarm close to the still red hot armor, spraying liquid nitrogen into the wound to cool it off fast, more then a few half shattered plates contracting under the strain and snapping off to crash to the bottom of the cage.

"Force ejecting the entry plug" she continued as the fire team swung into the action, tapping away madly on the keyboard and causing the intact rear armor to slide aside, thanking God that the hit had been to the front of the Eva.

The entry plug dock reached in extracted the plug into its standby position and away from the heat of the damaged Evangelion. As it locked into place, Akagi's hands once again flew over her keyboard as she brought up a list of emergency overrides and triggered one.

LCL spewed at high pressure from the base of the plug visibly steaming in the air to the alarm of the emergency teams moving into place. Grimacing, she triggered the next sequence as the LCL level dropped, causing the hydraulics to lever and retract the hatch, great clouds of steam rising into the relatively cool bay air as the access arm reached in, lifted out Rei's command couch and carried her across to the gantry, the young girl lying unconscious with thin rivulets of blood streaming from her nose and mouth.

Commander Ikari arrived as the medics loaded Rei onto a gurney –_now there was a familiar sight_ she thought- and he followed as they rushed off to the medical wing.

Leaving her to clean up the mess.

Sighing as the immediate danger passed, Doctor Akagi keyed for the diagnostics screen and winced.

"Should I head down to Unit One?" Shinji asked Misato as the frantic, chaotic activity of the last few minutes slowed to a more manageable crawl.

"No, no attacks will be launched until we can study this Angel more carefully" Misato decided, glaring at the screen as the Angel moved into position directly overheard…then a long thin object started to descent from it.

"What in the…" she asked in confusion, before shaking her head to get her focus back. "Isolate and zoom!"

Obediently one of the technicians zoomed the picture in, bringing the giant drill into focus as it crashed into the surface and started to, very slowly, dig down.

"Well that's new" Misato said dryly. "Okay. Let's see what this thing can do…"

While there were plenty of things Shinji _could_be doing right now, he decided that hanging around and watching Misato in crisis mode would be an interesting learning experience.

Especially as he had so utterly failed today _once_already.

_I should have planned for this. Stupid Shinji, very stupid"_ he told himself for probably the fifth time in the last ten minutes as he considered how damn closed Rei had come to dying. He had worked out an elaborate plan of attack on the Angel, under the assumption that he could move fast and hard enough to get into the blind spot directly under it, rehearsing the moves in his mind until he was sure he could pull it off.

Except for the _slight _problem that when the time had come, Unit One had been 'out of order' because he had just _assumed_ it would be there.

And Rei had come within one point seven two seconds of dying, according to Maya.

_I can't afford to make mistakes like this again!_

* * *

Out on the far side of Lake Ashi, a drone speedboat slowly moved towards the opposite shore, the ominous shape of the 5th Angel hovering silently above the city there as it slowly chewed down towards the Geofront. 

A few hundred meters out from the shoreline and about two kilometers from the Angel, a cable on the 1:1 scale balloon decoy of Unit One it was towing was cut, causing the doppelgangers arm –with a Type-2 Evangelion pistol replica in its hand- to snap into a firing position, directly at the Angel.

Ramiels response was prompt, an enormous waterspout blasting hundreds of meters into the air along with the few non vaporized remains of the boat and balloon.

"The enemies accelerated particle beam cannon has hit the balloon! The decoy's been vaporized!"

"Next" Misato ordered, crossing her arms.

On the far western side of Lake Ashi, a khaki painted train slowly rolled out of the tunnel entrance it had been hiding in, an enormous rail gun on board already traversed as the UN crew, several hundred meters back down the tunnel in the command vehicle set their sites and calculated trajectories.

The Type-12 Mortar developed by Rheinmetall in Germany was the most powerful UN weapons system deployed at Tokyo-3, with a power output comparable to an Evangelions positron cannon. Essentially a particle cannon, it fired a long slow beam of energy that was ideal for being 'wiggled' to saturate a small area with more firepower then a squadron of bombers, or, to deliver a white hot beam into a very small, focused area over several seconds with perfect accuracy.

The relatively slow speed of the beam was a necessary tradeoff to keep it tightly focused from the magnetic fields projected weapons emplacement itself. This in turn meant the weapons platform really_was _a mortar, generally designed to shoot high trajectory shorter ranged shots, allowing the beam to crash down behind hills, buildings and other line of site problems, while using the railway tracks to move the cannon around as a siege weapon.

But it was hard to miss a target as large as the 5th Angel.

For several seconds after the train came to a halt, nothing happened.

Then with an enormous muzzle flare that vaporized some hapless grass along the railway, the long line of the particle beam arced out in a relatively flat trajectory over the long sparkling lake at the dead center of the Angel-

-Only to bounce off wildly at an abrupt Angel to the South as it crashed into a previously invisible hexagonal field.

The Angel waited patiently until the entire beam had been deflected and its defensive barrier faded into nothingness once again.

Then it returned the favor.

"The Type 12 mortar has been vaporized!" Shigeru stated in a rather dull, unsurprised tone as a small mushroom cloud marked the funeral pyre of the Type-12 cannon.

"So I see" Misato said with a trace of good humor. "Situation room people".

"From the data we've collected" a technician stated fifteen minutes later in the situation room just off the command center, "we're assuming the Angel only attacks after opponents only come without a certain range, or directly become a hostile threat by attacking it beyond that range".

"Anything that enters this range" Shigeru took up the report, a circle coming up on a map of Toyko 3 centered on the Angel, "will be targeted preemptively, if it might pose a threat. Based on the position of the Type 12 when it was attacked" a second circle was overlaid with almost double the radius, "we assume the Angel will only respond if_directly_ provoked".

Shigeru paused for a second as footage of it blowing Unit Zero to hell was replayed.

"It's…too risky for close range combat in an Eva, isn't it?"

Misato didn't answer, instead watching the display and mulling over her thoughts. "What about it's AT field?"

Hyuga looked back at the screen, which shifted to a series of still shots. "It's still active. In fact" he added as the screens rotated through a series of shots of the Type-12 salvo impacting and deflecting off the field harmlessly, "it's so strong that the special chances in phase are visible. And needless to say, given its current position, a conventional attack would deal more damage to _us_then the Angel".

"So what _is _its location?" Misato demanded, leaning forward.

The screen changed to a map which tracked its approach path, then had the icon stopped directly at the apex of the Geofront.

"It's directly above us" he said glumly, flicking a button on a remote to change to a real-time security camera closest to the Angel. "A giant drill with a diameter of 17.5 meters is boring right towards us. Based on the rate its getting through the concrete and extrapolating to the denser armor layers it'll have to defeat…it will take roughly ten hours and two minutes, plus or minus five minutes to bore through and breach the Geofront".

"Talk about your high pressure situations" Misato muttered to no-one.

"I could try to engage it from outside the outer engagement zone" Shinji suggested, speaking up for the first time and pointing to the larger of the two circles. "Hit it with a few shots and duck behind some hills; try to get it to chase me out of the city so we can hit it with N2 weapons…"

"Not a bad idea" Misato said, but frowned. "But from the way this thing is sitting where it is, I don't think it'll take the bait. It's almost like a huge flying fortress sitting there…and I think its not going to budge from that spot".

"Could we use two Evangelions in a pair to get close?" Shinji suggested next. "One could use _its_ AT field to neutralize the Angels, the other to shield both units from counter attack?"

"Will that work?" Misato asked, glancing over at Maya.

The junior technician looked a little shocked to be placed on the spot, but rose to the question, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"Well it's _theoretically_possible, assuming we can get both units operational and work out the phase space frequency issues. But that beam has _enormous_ wattage behind it…I don't know if an AT field would slow it down very much. And it would be _incredibly_ dangerous, to say the least" she pointed out unnecessarily.

"The drill has contacted the first armor plate" another technician broke in from his monitoring. Glancing up at the screen, Misato saw the drill shudder and slow dramatically, but continue to turn as it started to bore through the thin but ultra dense plating that covered HQ.

"What's the status of Unit Zero?" she asked Maya, still trying to get a handle on what resources she had to throw at the problem, causing the younger women to glance at the latest status update from Doctor Akagi on her screen.  
"Well, the particle beam melted right through the top armor layers, but the final layer protected the internals from any major damage, just some heat conduction damage really. We're installing new armor, combat rated, over the damaged sections, it'll take about three hours".  
"Understood" Misato nodded back. "And Rei?"

Shigeru worked his keyboard to bring up the doctors latest report.

"No physical damage to the pilot. Looks like part of her CNS is a little sensitive, but well within safe piloting guidelines".

"Good" she said, managing not to feel self pity for putting that poor girl though yet more hospital time, saving it for later when she had time to beat herself up over it.

Two combat ready Evangelions at least gave her _some_options to attack.

She watched the screen as the image of Unit Zero being blasted at range by an enormous amount of energy played again…

Then it clicked.

_Why can't _we_ do the same thing to _it

* * *

"You want to shoot the target with a sniper, from beyond its range, that's what your saying Captain?" the Vice Commander said slowly, as if not sure he had heard what she had said. 

"Yes Sir" she nodded, still standing at attention in the Commanders office, noting how at midday it actually didn't look nearly half as intimidating, with plenty of natural light flowing into it. "From the data we're collected, I believe a similar attack style as the Angel employs; a single, pinpoint high wattage attack from outside its immediate response range is the only solution.

"Hmph. What do the MAGI say?" he asked.

"The response from the MAGI were two affirmative and one conditional affirmative, with an initial probability of eleven point six percent success probability. However, on advice from Pilot Ikari, we have made several chances to out plan which increased the success probability substantially to just over thirty percent".

"Pilot Ikari did? Interesting…still; one chance in three. Not the best odds" the Vice Commander pointed out.

"But I see no reason to reject this plan" the Commander added for both of them. "You may proceed, Captain".

"Sir" she said, whirling on her feet to march back out the door.

"Your Son appears to be making quite the positive contribution to NERV" Fuyutsuki said lightly as soon as Misato was clear of the room.

"I would expect nor accept nothing less" Ikari replied coolly, closing the folder on the hastily worked out battle plan and picking up another. "Now on the matter of next months budget…"

The Vice commander could only shake his head. Here they were in the fight of their lives and the 'Ice Man' was working on next month's budget.

Sighing, he picked up his own copy of the folder and opened it to the appropriate page.

* * *

"You do know this plan is utterly insane, don't you?" Ritisko Akagi asked Misato as the pair descended a long escalator into Central Dogma. Similar to the main 'front door' escalator inside the Geofront, this elevator connected two sides of one of the numerous 'bottomless' shafts that ran through Central Dogma together, the two women on their way to Technical Department 3, the high energy research division. 

"Don't be rude Rits" Misato shot back with a slight smile on her face, still giddy at the way she was throwing authority around against the deadline and watching people jump. "It has a thirty percent probability _and_ can be achieved inside the deadline".

"Thirty percent….well it's not a zeroor negative number I guess" Akagi shrugged as they reached the bottom of the escalator and headed down towards the weapons division.

Misato gave her friend a steady look.

"If you have a better idea?"

"How about we apply for all that leave we have built up?"

Misato actually appeared to seriously consider it for a few seconds, before shaking her head mournfully.

"The amount of paperwork I would have to do if Tokyo-3 got destroyed…" she sighed, causing Ritsuko to snicker, Misato enjoying the easy company she had missed over the strained, recent weeks, as they passed through several empty office areas to a balcony that overlooked a vast warehouse lined with gigantic weapons in various stages of repair.

"But our positron rifle, Shinji's test firing non withstanding, was never designed to fire at the kind of output you're going to need to punch through an AT field directly" Akagi out, glancing at that very weapon on the wall, which some technician in good humor had painted a 'kill' silhouette of the 4th Angel on the stock with the caption 'Squid Fryer' in bold letters under it.

She just shook her head.

At least moral was high.

"So I'll borrow a bigger gun" Misato shrugged, as if such concerns were a trivial irrelevancy.

"Borrow one…" Akagi said in confusion, before it clicked and her look turned somewhat incredulous look on her face. "You don't mean…"

"Yup" Misato said cheerfully as they continued to along towards the Evangelion bay where Unit One was being outfitted with F-type extended life battery packs to make a quick sortie a nearby military R&D facility. "The JSSDF's new prototype!"

* * *

As Shinji opened the hanger roof to load the disassembled cannon prototype onto the three flatbed trucks Misato had borrowed for the operation, Shinji couldn't help but feel a sudden urge to reach out with his fists and pound every one of the JSSDF troops into a paste. 

He thankfully was able to control the urge, but it took some real effort as he recalled the teams of commandos swarming into NERV, shooting anyone and everyone they saw on sight.

Regardless of if they were unarmed civilians trying to surrender or not.

Intellectually, he knew the JSSDF had been used and duped by SEELE just as everyone at NERV had been; that they had thought they were fighting to _stop_a Third Impact…even if they were in fact responsible for helping to bring it about.

But the memories faded slowly…as did Misatos life in his hands-

_STOP IT_ he snarled to himself focusing before he could drop part of the precious cannon, carefully lowering it onto the truck far faster then any crane could have done the job.

He shouldn't hate the JSSDF, despite how easy it was to do so.

No,_his _anger should be reserved and, unleashed, at those behind the events.

And it would.

One day.

Until then, he had to focus on the job.

"Okay that's it" the Tech-Div-3 man down on the truck called into his radio as his people finished securing the last cargo containers.

"Okay, everyone back to NERV!" Misato called back on the same frequency. "Oh Shinji, can you give them their roof back?"

"Hai" he smiled, reaching out to close the folding roof, enjoying the looks of stunned awe still on the faces of the technicians as he did so, crashing it down none too gently.

Just over an hour later they got back to Tokyo-3, Shinji carefully re-entering the base through an entrance out of line of site of the Angel as the huge battery packs on his back were just starting to run dry.

He brought Unit One back to its cage next to Unit Zero, which had been restored to operational status in the cage next to his. Several new armor plates, painted in the purple of Unit One, were even now being painted over by a cage crew who clearly thought it just would not do to send out Rei in a mismatched Evangelion.

Shaking his head at _that _thought, Shinji leaped out of his entry plug and hurried for a rapid shower and change before heading for the medical ward.

A short detour later to get the briefing papers for Misato's 'Operation Yashima' to brief Rei on, he arrived in her room and looked in.

Rei was lying in her bed, sleeping peacefully as if she hadn't damn near been vaporized earlier today with a calm expression on her face.

She looked like an Angel –the good ones, not the bad ones- just lying there, projecting such utter serenity he felt an irrational surge of jealously at the lack of such feelings in _his_life before he suppressed it, violently.

Taking a chair next to her bed, he settled in to wait for her to wake up.

Half an hour later, Rei slowly returned to the world of the living once again from a dreamless sleep, blinking several times to clear her vision as she studied where she was.

The last thing she had remembered was the pain from the scalding wave of heat that had flooded the entry plug, combined with the terrible feeling of heat on her chest through the neural connections...

Now she was in a familiar hospital room once again.

"Welcome back" a voice said softly from somewhere to her left. Turning, she saw Shinji was sitting next to her bed, watching her closely.

"Shinji" she said, blinking her eyes slowly as she continued to wake up and missing the look of surprise that passed across his face at her use of his first name before suppressing it under a smile.

"Are you okay?" he asked instead. She slowly rose up, her hospital sheets only loosely over her shifting as she did so in ways that made Shinji's eyes go wide for a second before he snapped his gaze to the base of her bed.

Rei didn't notice, taking an inventory of her body, pleased that despite feeling slightly sleepy and a slightly dry feeling in her throat, she felt fine.

"Yes" she replied, wondering in curiosity why Shinji was refusing to look at her and deciding to ask. "Why are you looking at the floor?"

"Well uh…you're not dressed Rei" he mumbled back.

The association was not logical in her mind.

"Why should that matter?"

"Well uh…you're a girl…and I'm a boy…it's a very interment uh…" Shinji stuttered, kicking himself for the rather pathetic sounding excuse even as he said it, "and its uh…rude to stare at a naked girl without um…" he ran out of words, his face burning and ruefully wondering why his confidence had just hung a sign saying 'out to lunch' and vanished from his mind without warning.

Rei considered his response seriously as she sat there, and unconcerned as always. Certainly, Commander Ikari had never had any problem with her wearing no clothes in his presence, but she _did_realize at school the separation of the locker rooms and constant references to 'Perverts' and 'Hentai's' suggested that there was a complex reasoning behind all this.

"I do not have a problem with you looking at me without clothes" she said after a few seconds, hoping this would clear up the issue, but instead causing his eyes to widen even more and his gaze to drop even lower to the floor, to Rei's consternation.

"Uh...well…I just wouldn't feel comfortable Rei" he managed to get out through the lump in his throat. _No, she wouldn't have a problem _he thought, recalling a lifetime ago when he had fallen on top of her and his hands had landed on her soft, firm…

_SHINJI NO BAKA! _

"Very well" she said after a few seconds. He heard a rustle of sheets and then she said "would this be better?"

Almost not daring to look up, he did so and relaxed slightly as he saw Rei had pulled her sheets up over her chest with a slightly confused, but still friendly enough look on her face.

"Rei…thank you…it really does make me feel better…" he sighed, only to have his heart stop as she smiled ever so slightly.

"I had understood that most boys felt better when they could see more, not less".

With a sound like an old record being ripped off a record player, Shinji's mind crashed to a halt and his jaw dropped as he stared at Rei.

_Did…did…did…she, did Rei Ayanami, just make a _joke

His laughter started as more of a snicker, but soon increased until he was gasping for air, tears streaming down his face at the utterly perfect innocent delivery…

Rei kept the slight smile on her face, feeling a strange resonance at the laughter across from her, almost as if by making Shinji feel happy, she could feel the same…

"Oh…that's classic" he finally got himself under control, stifling the spasms of laughter. "But uh…for my sanity, could you…" he said, reaching down and passing her a plug suit. She nodded calmly; Shinji averted his eyes as she got out of bed and carefully into her plug suit, only looking up when he heard the distinctive hiss of the suit sealing.

Not that Rei in the skintight, curve accentuating plug suit was _that_much better then her naked…but it was still a significant improvement.

_She's your sister she's your sister she's your sister…_

"Okay" he said, pulling out the hastily scrawled notes he had made. "Let me brief you on Operation Yashima…"

* * *

"The time is approaching Zero-Hundred hours" Maya said some time later as the counter on Shinji's HUD ticked over the final few seconds, then went to zero. 

"Commencing operation!"

"Alright Shinji, we're trusting you with the energy of the entire nation of Japan, I'm counting on you!"

_Gee, thanks Misato, no pressure at all! _Shinji thought to himself wryly as he lightly gripped his control handles.

"Roger!" was all he said in response, glancing at the distant Angel hovering above the darkened city, a series of floodlights on the ground ensuring it was well illuminated for the shot, even though it was the Evangelions targeting computer that was going to be really doing all the work.

"Initiate primary connection, do it!" she ordered.

"Initiating power transmission from districts numbers 1 through 803" Hyuga acknowledged, throwing a heavy lever up with a grunt.

Inside the Type-14 command vehicle, a large treelike display branching from an icon designated EVA-01 on the left to longer and longer rows of icons stacked one on top of each other on the far right came to life, the right most pack of icons illuminating as the MAGI, interfaced to Japans power grid computers, started their magic.

In the wars following Third Impact, the city of Tokyo had been devastated with major implications for the country. A huge chunk of the countries infrastructure had routed through Tokyo as a central hub –including the power network- meaning when it had been taken out, huge rolling blackouts had become common for years as Japan had rebuilt.

One positive outcome of all the destruction had been a 'never again' attitude, leading to the primary national power backbone being racially redesigned using advanced super conducting and high capacity technology with redundant linkages. Meaning that even if certain cities in the 'links' were taken out, any one of the other backbone links could handle the slack. Even if up to 80 of the network had been disabled, the remaining 20 could still handle 100 of the load.

In theory.

It had never been tested to the close to the 96.25 it was going to have to run at today however. Power from Japans network of nuclear reactors was steadily diverted into one backbone at a much higher level then the design brief, all the technicians in those power plants and major node stations across the country now prayed to their ancestors that the typical Japanese quest for excellence and engineering conservatism had been put into a system paid for by the Government and built the lowest bidding contractor…

"Voltages rising…water exchange unit reaching pressure zone" a technician called, her eyes utterly glued to her monitor in the command van as the delicate dance continued.

"All cooling systems switching to full power" Hyuga called as he activated the enormous series of elaborate cooling systems jury rigged onto two kilometer long spar of cables running from the nearest backbone line to the Evangelions location. The huge fans which had been charged on their internal fuel cells over several hours sucked air in from the night sky, mixing it with tanks of liquid nitrogen and blowing it over the cables. Only a tiny trickle of power was running through them so far, but they had to be cooled to as low a temperature as they possibly could before they reached that point.

"No problems with the cooling systems detected" the "power company" technician in his own command center back near the hastily laid cables called out, making tiny adjustments as the voltage increased.

"Roger, the positron charge is nominal" the gunnery technician confirmed with a glance at the rifle status indicator on the JSSDF software, running on her secondary terminal, all coming up in the green.

"Initiate second connection!" Akagi called as the status lights all continued to flash green, causing the second tier of lights to flash red on the master display.

"All accelerator units, engaging".

"Activate the convergence unit…now" Maya put in.

"Transmitting all energy to Mount Futago temporary substation" the distant engineer stated as he unlocked the spar, letting energy start to flow at low levels along the lines to just short of Unit One. "No problems reported with Third Connection".

"Roger!"

"Release final safety systems!" Misato barked.

"Release final safety locks!" Hyuga echoed, turning a key on his panel as Shinji 'cocked' the rifle, connecting the enormous, fifty billion Yen fuse to the rifle power unit.

"Safety systems released" Shinji replied, flicking a switch that caused the advanced gunnery display to unlock and come down in front of him, a wire frame of the distant Angel already locked into the gunnery computer, slaved to the MAGI through the rifles own fire control systems.

"Error correction for Earth rotational and gravitational differentials is at zero point zero zero zero nine".

"Voltage is zero point two short of critical" the power technician added, chewing his lip as sparks shot from a couple of transformers outside, but they held.

"Seventh and Tenth connections, engaged! Transmitting all energy to the positron rifle!" Hyuga cried as Japans nuclear reactors were thrown into overload, energy surging near the speed of light down the lines as the joules built up through the cable network, to be released in a massive180 Gigawatt pulse.

"Secondary forces, engage!"

Instantly, a pair of Type-20 mortars, the only two left in Tokyo-3's inventory, opened fire on the move, twin beams of brilliant white light from much closer in then Shinji's position hamming into the AT field with a brilliant light, the combat computer tracing the fire as twin lines on his vector display which exploded on contact, a pair of arsenal buildings opened fire to add their own salvos of hundreds of light rockets which exploded and bounced off the Angels AT field all over the place.

Predictably, the Angels beam lanced out first at one, then the other Type 20 and turned them into loosely associated particulate matter in the atmosphere before, perhaps sensing the power buildup in the far distance; it ceased fire as it realized it might just have been had.

_Too late _Shinji thought, as Misato shouted to fire.

A brilliant beam of green light snapped out like a whip across Lake Ashi, straight as an arrow towards the distant Angel-

Then it slowed, warped and diverted slightly as, at the last second, the Angel fired its own beam.

It was a weak shot, nowhere near the full charge the Angel probably wanted, but that was mostly an irrelevancy as the magnetic fields of the two beams came within reach, touched, repelled and warped the other, twisting and turning like a pair of snakes before speeding up again.

Shinji's shot nicked the side of the Angel, deflected from its dead center alignment to scathe down the equatorial band, energy exploding back out from the wound as the antimatter and plasma left over from the effort of penetrating the AT field did its work, before the majority of the beams energy shot off towards the horizon, eventually into low Earth Orbit then out into local space to dissipate. The Angels shot was steered violently off course by the same overwhelming energy, cutting steeply down into Lake Ashi where it sent a huge cloud of steam exploding into the air and dug a trench that would become quite the tourist diving experience into the bedrock.

"Missed!" Shinji snapped over the communications line as the light faded from the spectacular light show, reaching up and ratcheting a new fuse into place, starting the barrel cooling cycle at the same time.

_That's faster of the mark _he thought grimly, recalling last time it had taken a good twenty seconds to recover from the Angels near miss.

"Fuses replaced, initiating recharge" Hyuga jumped right in as he worked his console, the team gaining what Shinji knew was an incredibly valuable dozen seconds as they got moving on the recharge.

"The Angel took a direct hit to it's forth Quadrant" Shigeru called from his position down in Headquarters where he was doing damage control. "Reading heavy damage to its equatorial section there…it's rotating!"

Shinji looked up to see the Angel was indeed turning on its axis to take its ruined, burning side out of the equation while continuing to drill down, presenting a fresh weapons 'corner' towards Unit One.

"Barrel cooling in progress" a technician called as coolant was flushed over and down the long barrel.

"Come on…come one" Shinji hissed, looking at the ominously silent Angel.

"Fifteen more seconds" Aoba promised as he worked his console, praying for the barrel of the positron cannon to hold up for just one more shot…

"High energy output detected inside the target!" Maya shouted in alarm as energy started to cascade along the three untouched sides of the Angel, somehow looking brighter and thicker then before, as if the Angel was now _really_ pissed off.

"Come on come on!" Misato unknowingly echoed Shinji, as if through shear willpower they could accelerate the changing cycle…but physics was physics after all.

"The enemy drill has broken into the Geofront" Aoba called form downstairs in alarm as sirens started to go off all over the command van.

Shinji's sites blinked green-

And Shinji didn't fire, recalling a passing comment from Akagi after this Angel had been destroyed last time as he watched the Angels energy buildup continue-

"SHINJI, what are you DOING-"

"Rei, cover me!" Shinji shouted instead to his wingman, praying she was listening in on the channel.

Rei without hesitation rolled Unit Zero into place, her shield snapping up as Ramiel fired, a bright pink beam snapping out across the Lake to crash into Rei's shield. The EM field projected by it scattered the beam over a large surface area made up of insulating and energy absorbing material, but even that heat sink started to rapidly ablate under the hellish firepower.

"GOD DAMNIT SHINJI, FIRE YOU WEAPON!" Misato demanded in a near panic.

"No, wait, he's right!" Akagi decided as her mind spun, looking at Shinji's targeting data on a repeater screen in the command van, wondering how the hell she hadn't thought of this and how Shinji_had_.

Shinji watched as the targeting system which had signified a solid lock just before the Angel fired, flickered, the MAGI now factoring in the local EM distortion from the Angels own weapons fire that otherwise would have deflected his shot once again. Adjusting his aim point_ever_ so slightly to the left, the lock indicator once again went green.

_Now_he pulled the trigger.

Once again, the enormous blast of energy screamed out of the gun, arcing half a degree to the left to be repelled and turned back by the Angels beam-

Right into the bull's-eye.

The beam crashed through the side of the Angel, the 'chewy antimatter center' of it pouring into the Angels interior, annihilating everything in its path into a cloud of high energy plasma that incinerated the core, the last dregs of the beam passing through and blowing back out the other side to crash into a hill behind the city and send thousands of tons of dirt flying.

Unit Zero collapsed onto its side.

"REI!" he shouted in alarm, the targeting display retracting as he leapt up from the rifle.

"I'm…okay" her voice came back to Shinji's utter relief as he saw the shield_had_ held for long enough to leave Unit Zero unharmed, this time. Rei slowly brought her unit to its feet.

"I'm so sorry for putting your life in Danger" he said to Rei over a private Eva to Eva channel, "but I had to adjust for-"

"You do not need to apologize" her voice came back as they started to work their way back down the reverse side of the mountain, avoiding vehicles, cables and personnel. "I…trusted that you had a reason for asking it of me…and this proved to be correct".

_She trusted that I had a reason to ask her to risk her life _Shinji thought in amazement.

_She didn't do it because she was ordered to._

_She didn't do it because she didn't care if she died._

_She did it because she _trustedme

"I…am honored you trust me with your life" was all he could think of saying in return…not realizing it was probably the best thing he could have said.

"As you trusted me with yours to protect you" her voice came back softly, causing Shinji to blink again as he considered her statement.

Well it was true, he had never doubted for a split second that Rei would come through for him…

"Hey Shinji" Misato broke onto his screen with a slightly sheepish look on her face. "Good call holding off firing until the computer could adjust".

Shinji smiled slightly. "I just remembered something Doctor Akagi said; 'Since the positron beam will be influenced by the Earth's gravity, magnetic fields and rotation'-"

"It will not fire in a straight line" Akagi finished her own quotation with a smile on her face. "I'm just glad _you_were listening" she said.

Misato shot her a dirty look but turned back.

"Okay bring it back home" she smiled. "We need a victory party for this back home!"

Shinji smiled back. It was just _too_ good an opportunity to pass up.

"Really? Cool!" he grinned, flicking his communications unit over to the general NERV/UN frequency. "Hey everyone, victory party at Katsuragi's place!"

Dozens upon dozens of cheers came back over the open line, causing Misatos jaw to drop and Akagi to explode with laughter, before Shinji closed the line.

"Well I have to get rid of that beer somehow" he muttered to himself with a shrug, before turning back to Rei's curious looking face and smiling.

"Party time!"

* * *

Yes I know we still don't really have any major changes to the time line, but that is going to start shifting in a major way next chapter. I'm skipping the whole Jet Alone thing as that really didn't serve any other purpose then to explore Mistao's character somewhat, to show that she can be a very serious, professional and self sacrificing person when she needs to.  
Of course WE all know that and SHINJI knows that, so meh.  
It still happens 'in universe' of course, but not described here, except perhaps a throw away line or two. 

Instead, we have finally reached the arrival of Asuka...and oh boy is this going to be so much fun :D

Don't expect many updates for a while though. Battlestar Galactica is about to release 'Razor' and Stargate Atlantis is back on, meaning by nBSG - SG fanfic is about to kick into gear again.

Thanks for reading.


	8. Rating note

Note

I've downgraded the rating to T from M simply because I've decided to tone down what was going to be rather dark violence later as I just found it wasn't working…and while there will be sex in this story later, I don't think I'm going to do a hardcore 'play by play' at this time.

I might change my mind of course on either of the above, but until then I've changed it to better reflect its rating.


	9. Gaghiel

"An Mi-26 Transport Helicopter! I never thought I'd ride in one of these hot mamas! Man its sure great having a famous Eva pilot like you for a friend Shinji!"

Shinji Ikari couldn't help but smile slightly at Kensuke's enthusiasm as his friend swung his camera around, trying to capture every square centimeter of the heavily customized helicopter. Aida had been on the equivalent of a sugar high since stepping onto the chopper, when the 'quiet day trip' promised by Misato had mutated into a surprise helicopter ride and this was in fact the first time Shinji could recall him making a coherent sentence since takeoff almost an hour ago.

Toji had taken the surprise flight somewhat in stride as he continued to steal an occasional look at Misato in her semi formal uniform jacket with its _very _short skirt…but it was a dramatic difference from the 'last time' in this chopper where Shinji had been forced to sit next to an utterly infatuated Toji, whose gaze hadn't shifted a millimeter from the back of Misato's seat for the entire flight.

_I guess Hikari is having more of an effect on him then I had anticipated _Shinji decided with a mental shrug.

So much the better.

With that thought however, his mind drifted back to the events of the last fortnight which, for once, had been empty of major emergencies –with the exception of the Jet Alone incident- to risk his life over.

Not that it had been exactly _quiet_, just that for a short time he hadn't had to try and battle multi story tall killing machines out to end the human race.

Hikari's campaign against Toji had continued; the two slowly but steadily becoming increasingly at ease in each others company though surprisingly, it had been Toji's younger sister Kana who was doing most of the work.

Clearly_she_ was able to see where things were going, approved of it and had decided to step in and carefully nudge the two along with a skill and ease that stunned Shinji. Well either that or she was sick to death of nearly starving every day at lunch time.

And she was _good. _He had seen Kana manipulate Hikari into walking 'her' home, before stealthfully moving off ahead and leaving Hikari to walk Toji home together instead. She had once had both of them mysteriously take her to the shops to buy things she never actually brought under the justification of taking Hikari for fashion advice and her brother to 'escort' her, then again just vanished to leave them both standing around together with only each other for company, the two slowly opening up…

After watching one of these evasions from a distance by chance, Shinji had decided then and there to tread very, _very_ carefully around Toji's sister.

Not that he didn't find her insufferably cute in a little Sister sort of way of course.

She was just too clever and manipulative by half.

_His_interactions with the girls of class 3-F had been somewhat more exasperating, though in hindsight he probably should have expected consequences from his rejection of Chihiro.

He had a strong feeling that _she_ was where the rumor that he was 'attracted to members of his own sex', explaining why he wasn't taking any Girl to the dance had started from.

Fortunately, after a rather awkward morning, very few of the Girls –thank you Hikari- and even fewer of the 'guys' –thank you Toji- had believed it and Chihiro appeared to be increasingly isolated outside of her hardcore group of friends.

But the accusations had done their damage, stirring disturbing memories he had tried to suppress of another boy his age; one with red eyes and a perpetually amused smile on his face…who had given up everything for him because he had unconditionally loved him, regardless of such irrelevant 'Lilim' concerns as gender.

_And wow, did I show him how worthy I was of that trust. _

On the NERV front at least, things were proceeding more or less the same as he had remembered them, with only a few, strange exceptions.

Misato had forgiven him for the snap house party he had called.

Not that she had had a problem with the party _itself_, with probably three hundred NERV and UN personnel flowing out into a semi street party, a celebration of life backlit by the still cheerfully burning corpse of the 5th Angel in the center of the city…but the cleanup the next day…

Well that and fact that Shinji had headed out to school before she had woken up and Pen Pen had evaded his mistress by mysteriously vanishing from the apartment somehow.

Though she had forgiven him when the cleaning crew had had hired and paid for had shown up half an hour after she got up.

On the plus side, with her beer supplies exhausted after the long night, she had instead been drawn to the coffee machine Shinji had carefully purchased and set up with simple step by step instructions that even a hung over Misato couldn't screw it up, delivering an absolutely delicious cup of coffee that had woken her up without the complication of alcohol. And to his delight before they had headed out to NERV the next day she had _again_ chosen coffee over the beer, despite having replenished her stock without thinking when she did the shopping.

He still had thought it slightly unfair that both he and Rei had to come in for a scheduled Synch test the day after shooting Ramiel down, but given that all the senior staff had come back to work without a break, he could hardly complain. Unfortunately, as Unit Zero was still in the process of being upgraded and repaired, Rei had been allowed to head on home early leaving him alone when had gotten out of the entry plug, showering then heading back out for the lift, only to be stopped short by the cage leader as he had headed towards the long exit to the Geofront.

"Excuse me, Shinji, could I have a word?"

Shinji had blinked in surprise at that, but nodded and followed him into a small office overlooking Unit One standing in its pool of cryogenic coolant up to its neck.

"I would like to talk about my daughter" the senior NCO had said without preamble, as he sat on the edge of a desk loaded with technical readouts, reports and diagrams.

"Your daughter…" Shinji asked in confusion, before it his eyes finally focused in on the name tag on the technician's uniform.

_H . Tanaka._

_Chihiro Tanaka._

"You're…Chihiro's Father?" he asked in some surprise and even a slight amount of unease.

This could be bad…

"Hai" he replied with a sigh. "Hama Tanaka. I love my daughter, but this job keeps me so busy that I don't have enough time to spend with her". He frowned slightly, a tinge of sympathy coming over his features. "But I've heard a little about what she's been putting you through recently and I have to apologize…she lost her mother when she was very young…and she's always been a very aggressive person as a result-"

"You don't have to apologize for her" Shinji said, a sudden deep sympathy for Chihiro resonating with him as he recalled that a large percentage of his classmates had lost their Mothers…and as far as he knew, every one of _those_ classmates was an Evangelion pilot candidate.

Glancing out at Unit One which, as always, returned his gaze levelly, Shinji felt his jaw tighten slightly.

_His_ mother he knew had made a conscious choice to 'end' her life and Asuka's at least had fully known the risks with the technology she was working with.

But if he _ever_ confirmed his suspicions linking NERV and SEELE to the deaths of his classmates mothers…

The –disturbingly pleasant- image of Keel Lorenze, his Father and the rest of the SEELE gang looking up in horror as Unit One's size four hundred foot came crashing down interjected itself into his mind for a second before he shook it off.

"Chihiro is a nice person Sir…it's just that I have too much to worry about right now with NERV and piloting to consider any kind of relationship". His lip twitched. "I just don't think anyone outside of NERV really can understand what this job means".

"I know that Shinji and I promise I'll try to make her understand that…but I owe you an apology as well" he said, now looking somewhat embarrassed and uneasy. "When you first arrived, the son of the Commander and all that, word…got out of how much you were getting paid. It shames me to admit it, but I thought far less of you then you deserved".

As Shinji opened his mouth to protest, Hama held up a hand, clearly wanting to get his thoughts out.

"No, listen. I was tired from the thirty six hour shift I had pulled and I stupidly complained in front of Chihiro about how you had walked in, picked up your pay cheque and left the mess for us to clean up. It was utterly unprofessional and disrespectful of my position anyway, but then you spent a week working your butt off to get up to speed, putting your life on the line willingly against those damn Angels again and again, treating us with a respect and professionalism that no-one expected from…"

"Someone with the surname Ikari?" Shinji smirked.

"No, from a fourteen year old boy blackmailed into piloting that thing" he replied with a glance out at Unit One. "I wasn't in the cage when you had that shouting match with your Father, but I heard about it later the next day. And after I saw how seriously you took your job…I should have guessed that you might take after your mother more then your father…you are so like her in so many ways"

_That_remark caused Shinji's thoughts to crash to a halt spectacularly.

"You….you knew my Mother?" he asked in a quiet voice, feeling that yearning deep inside him once again. He knew he shouldn't be surprised; his Mother _had_ worked for SEELE then GEHERN for quite some time after all.

But he had never thought any of the 'lower level' workers would have such memories of her…

Hama nodded slowly.

"Yes, I worked with her for quite a few years".

"What…what was she like?" Shinji asked quietly.

Hama simply smiled slightly, as if pleased he had asked the question.

"Yui…" he said thoughtfully, his gaze drifting across to Unit One, "well she was always down here in the trenches…she always had time for the little people, a simple smile or word of encouragement and she could _curse_ like you wouldn't _believe_ when she couldn't get something to work" he chuckled, causing Shinji to smile broadly as Hama recounted an incident where his Mother had screamed in rage for five minutes at Unit One kicking its foot repeatedly with her own the whole time, no-one daring to approach her.

Or laugh.

"Everyone down here utterly adored her. She was the driving force behind this entire project...and for what it's worth, I know she loved you with all her heart".

_That at least I had never doubted _Shinji thought silently.

"And you loved her" he added. "I remember once when that Zeppelin Soryu from the Third Branch was visiting with her girl, they put you and her together in the play pen upstairs and-"

"Wait, wait" Shinji interrupted as his mind caught up, thinking he couldn't have possibly heard right. "Are you talking about-?"

"The Second Child" he nodded, then cocked his head in thought. "That's right, she's coming back over here with Unit Two in a fortnight, isn't she?"

At Shinji's dumbfounded nod, he continued with a smirk.

"It was so cute, you two kids in the same playpen while your Mothers 'talked shop' with all of the staff, in between everyone 'ohhing' and 'ahhing' at you two. Then Kyoko's daughter picked up one of your toys, some stuffed animal I think. You sort of crawled over and tried to take it back…and she hit you over the head with it, repeatedly, causing you to break down and cry".

It was only by an act of God that Shinji's expression did not change at the implications of _that_statement by bursting out laughing.

_The more some things change…_

"Yui just jumped over, picked you up and laughed, causing you to stop crying and start giggling right back" he sighed, before focusing his eyes back on Shinji. "So as I said, it's clear which parent_you_ take after, your Father has never given us plebs down here the time of day. Not to say he is _rude_, just…distant".

They sat in silence for a second, Shinji savoring the words and look into his mothers past with a couple of deep breaths.

"Anyway, again, I just wanted to apologize for the hell Chihiro is no doubt putting you through. I'll have another word with her-"

"Mister Tanaka …Hama" Shinji interrupted after he decided he had composed himself enough to hold back the tears that had threatened to come out as images of his mother continued to flash through his mind. "No, please don't. I'll have a talk to her tomorrow to see if we can put this behind us. You've…already done enough for me, those memories of my Mother…they are worth more to me then you can possibly imagine".

"I'm glad you think so" he said, standing with a yawn. "Well I won't keep you any more, you probably want to leave and I need to get to work on the post test checklists to really make sure Unit One didn't take any damage in the engagement yesterday".

"Actually" Shinji interrupted, the link between his Mother and the Technical staff crystallizing a decision in his mind, "I was wondering if I could run a couple of ideas past you…"

* * *

Shinji was somewhat surprised to find that the Vice Commander Fuyutsuki was actually in his office doing paperwork when he queried a MAGI terminal for his current location. Getting off the elevator and stepping into the 'executive corridor', he gave the huge forbidding doors at one end of the passage a long, level look before he turned away, shivering and instead walked down to a glass doorway into the antechamber of the Vice Commanders much more modest office. It was perhaps a fifth the total size of his Fathers office 'complex', and it had been divided into a series of even smaller rooms, starting with this small antechamber / entrance where his secretary worked as well as doors to the other rooms around them. One to a small bedroom on the left, another to a conference room on the right, and a third just next to the secretaries' desk that lead into the Vice Commanders office itself.

It was an infinitely more functional design for a high ranking bureaucrat then the gigantic, intimidating void his Father preferred for whatever reason.

_Perhaps my father gets paid by the square meter _Shinji thought to himself with a smile, making a note to use that line the next time he had to go in there.

"Mister Ikari" Fuyutsuki's attractive secretary said with an excellent simulation of astonishment in her voice as he walked in, as if his presence was a true surprise.

Shinji knew better of course. She was actually a Section Two – Delta agent who had been alerted by the MAGI the second he had stepped of the elevator, with security footage sent directly to her terminal. If he had been someone who might want to harm the Vice Commander, he would have opened the door to find an Uzi pointed in his face and a fast response squad already on the way.

_I wonder _how_ SEELE pulled off that kidnapping _Shinji wondered idly before smiling back at the pleasantly smiling secretary.

"Good afternoon Miss Mutsu" he said with a polite bow. "I was wondering if I could see the Vice Commander".

"One second" she said, tapping a key, causing a holographic window to pop up in front of her expensive looking wooden desk, which Shinji could see was covered in text saying 'SOUND ONLY'.

"Yes?"

"Apologies for the interruption Sir" she said, "but the Third Child wishes to see you, if you are free".

"Send him in" the gruff, no nonsense voice of the Vice Commander decided a few seconds later before the window vanished. Mutsu smiled and gestured at the large wooden door, which magically unlocked with a click.

"Go right in".

"Thank you" he said, stepping through the now unlocked doors which clicked closed behind him, restoring the soundproof, bug proof and bullet proof seal of the Vice Commanders office.

Instantly the difference between the two most senior men at NERV became apparent. Where as his Fathers office was utterly empty, letting his presence fill the space and intimidate anyone who dared to enter his domain to challenge him, the Vice Commanders office was that of an academic. Low shelves lined the walls to the end of the far thinner and shorter rectangular room, filled with countless books, folders and papers. Framed certificates, diplomas, degrees and association records lined the wall above them, along with a handful of pictures of people, few of whom Shinji recognized.

The Vice Commander himself was sitting at his desk, a relatively simple affair with two seats in front of it and he looked up as Shinji made his way down the much shorter walk, gesturing to one of two seats across from him, closing the holographic windows he had been studying.

"Mister Ikari" he said in his usual, straight forward but friendly enough manner. "Please, have a seat".

"Thank you" Shinji said with a nod, sitting before his eyes were drawn to one of the two pictures on his desk.

It was the Professor with Father and…his mother, the former looking…strange without his omnipresent glasses, the later smiling directly at him, in that strange way the eyes of people in photo's appeared to track you. The professor followed his gaze then smiled slightly.

"Ah yes. That was taken shortly after I joined GEHERN, NERV's parent organization" he said. "I had known…your mother for some time before that" he said, catching himself before he said 'Yui', clearly not wanting to sound too familiar.

Of course it was all for nothing, Shinji knew full well of the unrequited love this man had felt for his Mother…which was a useful lever.

_Am I turning into my Father? _Shinji thought at that horribly harsh sounding concept. _Manipulating people's inner most desires and feelings for my own goals as simple buttons and levers?_

It was a very disturbing thought, but Shinji pushed it aside for later.

"So, what can I do for you Shinji?" the Vice Commander finally spoke up after a short silence.

"Well firstly I wanted to thank you for helping to get the school dance back on" he said, as he remembered that he had never gotten around to thanking the man for his efforts. Fuyutsuki smiled faintly and leaned back.

"Think nothing of it" he said magnanimously, "I had to use a few favors up but you more then deserve to have _some_ fun given your responsibilities".

"And I'm sure you earned more then a few favors from the Minister of the Interior" Shinji replied in a slightly dry tone, recalling the headlines the next day on the newspapers. "What was it, a fifteen point jump in his approval ratings after he stood up to the evil insurance company?"

Fuyutsuki caught the slight twitch in his expression before it made it onto his face as he studied the self assured pilot across from him. Shinji was_far_ too clever by half.

Not that it was surprising given his pedigree.

Still, he conceded the point, allowing a slight smile. "Something for everyone is the best outcome, neh?"

"Hai" Shinji agreed. "But I appreciate the effort regardless".

"Have you organized a date yet for this dance?" he asked far too casually, Shinji saw the thrust of the question, but shoook his head as he ducked to the side.

"No, I don't really know anyone well enough at the school" he replied easily.

"Though I hear that hasn't stopped more then a few…offers being made" he said.

"I didn't know Section Two included my dating habits in their daily reports".

"They include everything Shinji I'm sorry to say. You understand, it's the price for letting you have something even approaching a normal life in public, you are just too valuable, Rei too for that matter".

Shinji heard the double meaning in the words about Section Two as well as Rei's value, but let it pass.

"I know, and I do appreciate their professionalism" then raised an eyebrow. "On the other hand, I would think having an Eva pilot date without being cleared by them would drive them nuts".

"Well, what about Rei?"

Shinji kept the pleasant amiable expression on his face, but inside raised an eyebrow at that statement as the Vice Commander directed the conversation back to her.

_What is that curious, tasty looking silver thing flashing in the water, the fish thinks…_

"Take_her_? Uh, well I've never thought of her in that sense before"

"No?" Fuyutsuki asked with a raised eyebrow, the elderly Vice Commanders eyes boring into him.

"Not really" he shrugged, dropping his fencing sword and pulling out a sawn off shotgun. "She's feels…like a sister to me, a sibling I never had, there's just something so familiar about her …but I don't look at her romantically, if that's what you mean".

Never bring a sword to a gunfight.

The Vice Commander hid his reaction very well, in his position he would_have _to be able to. But a slight flicker of one of his fingers and a blink of his eyes showed Shinji's buckshot had thrown him right off balance.

"I see" was all he said.

"And I'm actually trying to set her up with one of my friends" he added, frowning slightly. "Though I'm not sure she quite understands the concept of being escorted to a dance…or for that matter, the dance itself".

_That_at least was true. Kensuke had utterly no chance of getting _himself_ organized after all, despite the slightly positive female – male ratio in his year and Rei didn't quite understand the concept, even if she admitted she found the idea 'intriguing' and Kensuke an 'acceptable choice'.

Not_quite_ the enthusiastic response he had hopped for, but it would do. Assuming Kensuke didn't have a heart attack when he actually got around to informing him of course.

"Well I am sure you will find someone, you deserve some time to unwind and enjoy yourself" the Vice Commander said, switching subjects now that he had found out what he wanted. "So, if I might ask, what was the main reason you wished to see me today?"

"It's about these…uniforms".

"I thought you told the Operations Director that you didn't mind the idea".

"I don't" Shinji said with a shake of his head. "But I wanted to discuss a possible modification".

The Vice Commander leaned back slightly, appraising him. "Go on".

"The problem is I've found…well, a barrier, between me and the NERV people I work with. I can't help but think they just see me as a child playing at war games, not really taking me seriously. My mother worked side by side with the teams on Unit One" he said. "They still remember her, even today, as someone who got down in the trenches so to speak, alongside them as part of their _team_. I on the other hand…well, I'm just the kid who pilots the thing then goes home. They're polite and professional…but…that esprit'de'corps" –Shinji struggled over the strange word- "is just not there, despite how hard I try to integrate myself with them".

"And you have an idea how to change that?"

"Perhaps only partially, but at least it's a step in the right direction" he said...

* * *

Two days later, Shinji sat down on his bed and hurriedly finished unwrapping the package that had been delivered while he was at school.

His new NERV uniform.

How exactly Pen-Pen had signed for it, Shinji decided he didn't want to know, guessing it was one of those great universal mysteries that would destroy his mind faster then Third Impact if he ever discovered the truth.

The uniform was the price of being on the NERV payroll in a big way and probably for being somewhat more stable in the head. Even if it was mostly just something for him to wear instead of his school uniform if he ever had any occasion to formally report to higher ups such as 'The Human Instrumentality Committee'.

The concept of standing in front of SEELE's official face quietly terrified him, but Misato had assured him it was rather unlikely to happen.

The formal 'uniform' was really just a jacket of exceptionally high quality he would wear over his usual white shirt and dark trousers, cut similar to Misato's scarlet jacket but in a dark navy blue that hung over his belt without looking _too_ large. All manner of patches covered it and made it look like a pilot's jacket, something he found entirely appropriate. A UN military patch sat on his right shoulder just above a small but strident, Japanese flag. 'S.IKARI' was stitched directly into the uniform on his right breast, with 'NERV' stitched opposite it on his left, an allegiance reinforced by the NERV patch on his left shoulder, though circled in a thin gold band to signify his pilot status.

A half dozen zippered windbreakers were folded up under his jackets, much more simple with only his name and a Unit patch on his left and right breasts, designed to be worn in the field, over plug suits if needed, and joy of joys, they had _pockets_. Plug suits were comfortable enough, but the lack of pockets on them had nearly driven him insane on more then one occasion.

The Unit Patch was his own addition to both uniforms, sitting on the right breast of both, under the NERV logo on the formal jacket. It was a rather catching patch in his opinion, shaped like the head of Evangelion Unit One, the outline of its face barely visible with the four 'war paint' stripes and white eyes dramatically offsetting the golden 'Evangelion - 01' logo attached under it.

The Unit patch on his jackets had been issued to all the Unit One cage crew who wore them proudly on their shoulders. Moral, already relatively high only improved as the patches were released. When Shinji walked into the bays in his light jacket wearing the exact same patch as 'his' crew, he found himself increasingly getting crisp nods and smiles back from them, greeting them increasingly on a first name basis, slowly building his own network of people he knew, across most of the divisional and organizational boundaries.

He doubted he could launch a Coup d'état with these people against his Father…but they could prove to be useful in the future to 'leak' information at the right times.

Unfortunately, his other proposals to the Vice Commander had met with far more limited success –such as funny hat day and a hot pink paint job for Evangelion Unit Two when it arrived.

But he would adapt…even if he would never see his Father in an Australian cork hat sitting stoically at his desk, his head resting in his hands as he always had it…

* * *

Shinji's attention was finally dragged back to the noisy existence of the heavy transport helicopter as he realized Misato was speaking.

"Well I figured you three must be getting sick of being cooped up in those mountains for weekend after weekend, so I figured I'd take you out on a little date!"

"This is a date Misato?" Toji said in surprise, his eyes snapping up in surprise and glee.

Hikari or no Hikari, Shinji knew very few males his age who would ignore Misato with _that_ smile on her face saying they were on a date.

"So…where are we going?" Shinji asked with a sigh at his friend's expression, reminding himself that Hikari and Toji were going along just fine.

Misato glanced out the cockpit, grinned and looked back at him.

"Oh, I thought we'd take a cruise on that little boat down there!"

All three young men in the back of the tiny passenger compartment turned and looked out the windows on the right hand side of the helicopter. Cloud under them blocked their view for a few seconds before being whipped away to show the dull gray ships of the UN Combined Pacific Fleet stretching from horizon to horizon.

"OH MY GOD!" Kensuke screamed, louder then any fan girl he had ever met in his life as he zoomed in on the capital ships at the center of the formation. "ONE TWO THREE FOUR BATTLESHIPS AND FIVE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS! WHAT A FLEET!"

Toji's reaction could not possibly have been more contrasting.

"That's…your cute little boat?" he said in disbelief as their lumbering helicopter turned into approach pattern, loosing speed and altitude as they did so.

"She's gorgeous" Kensuke breathed in reverent awe. "That's the pride of the UN combined fleet, the Super Carrier 'Over the Rainbow'!"

"What kind of a stupid name is that?" Toji sniffed, causing Kensuke's grip on his camera to visibly tighten for a second.

"She's a vintage model from just before Second Impact" Kensuke's huffed, clearly putting aside Toji's near heretical statements for the time being. "She was under construction at Newport as CVN-76 back when Second Impact happened. The tsunami from the impact hit the shipyard and she broke free of her moorings, getting pushed out to sea. In the chaos, everyone thought she had sunk, then two days later, she just drifted back in with the construction crew tired, wet, but still alive. When they were asked where they had been, one of them said 'over the rainbow' and the name stuck.

"It's enormous" Shinji agreed, his nerves slowly increasing the reality of the ships presence started to permeate his mind, causing him to close his eyes and wipe his suddenly sweaty palms off on his NERV jacket that he had worn, to Kensuke's great envy.

_Get a grip Shinji _he told himself, to utterly no effect.

The Mi-26 flared as it passed over the flight deck of the carrier, her decks filled with an exotic mixture of US, Russian and European naval aircraft. Even so, the arrival of the gigantic, customized helicopter was unusual enough that deck personnel doing programmed maintenance stood around and watched as it slowly fell out of the sky towards them.

They were not alone.

Up on the Flag Bridge, the three star Admiral in charge of the task force growled in annoyance as the huge UN helicopter descended, ranting to his long suffering Flag Captain about the injustice of this entire insane mission and stupidity about 'bringing a power cord for that kids toy'.

A hundred meters back towards the stern, a cigarette in his mouth and a sloppy grin on his face, Ryoji Kaji watched the cargo helicopter descend with a gleam in his eye, just waiting for the right moment to surprise his old girlfriend and sighed over the fact that he hadn't brought a camera to capture the moment.

Fifty meters forward and several stories higher then the sometimes NERV officer sometimes spy, a young teenaged adolescent who was no longer a girl but not yet quite a woman stood in the stiff breeze generated by the carriers forward motion, long hair waving in as she watched the helicopter descend the last few meters to the deck and lightly touch down, before she turned towards a nearby stairwell.

"COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL! TOTALLY AWESOME! I'M SO HAPPY I WANT TO CRY!" Kensuke almost sobbed in pure joy as he leaped off the helicopter, his camera swinging every which way as he tried, impossibly, to film everything he saw at the same time and came increasingly close to tripping over his own feet. "Look at those_antennas_ and _dishes_ and _guns_ and _launch__pads_ and _missiles_…" Kensuke's voice trailed off into silence, mostly because his lungs had run out of oxygen and his mind had fried from the sensory overload, instead simply focusing the camera and making noises of approval from the little gasps of oxygen he had to spare.

Shinji shook his head in amusement as he followed his friend away from the helicopter, pausing as he felt his unzipped jacket catch the wind and start to flutter, then recalling what that wind meant and turning in alarm as Toji hopped down onto the carriers' flight deck, raising his voice over a sudden engine startup.

"TOJI, HOLD ON TO YOUR-"

Too late.

Toji's precious new basketball cap was ripped from his questing fingers by the wind, skidding off down the flight deck with Toji madly following in pursuit, screaming at someone to stop it. Shinji was peripherally aware of Misato coming around from the cockpit, yawning and rubbing her neck as she took in the fresh sea breeze, but didn't pay attention as he prayed that what he had read about Chaos Theory in the last couple of weeks held true.

Unfortunately, the probability Gods didn't take pity on him as a final gust of wind sent Toji's hat skidding into the path of a slim red sandal which crashed down and arrested its progress.

Shinji swallowed. Heavily.

There she was.

She looked exactly as he remembered her, her glorious auburn hair streaming out behind her in the wind with that yellow sundress she had worn sparingly -but had always made him weak at the knees- held up by twin straps neatly tied off with small bows on her shoulders, complemented by a light blue velvet strip that circled her throat. Her eyes were those same brilliant sapphires burned into his memory that could express more emotion in a slight shift of focus then most people could with their entire body, currently focused on Misato as the Captain smiled at her, utterly ignoring the increasingly strident noises Toji was making at her feet. As always, she wore her A-10 clips in an effort to gather her hair back and Shinji spotted a new addition, a pair of tiny studs in her ears that sparkled brilliantly in the bright sunlight, only helping to accentuate the air of maturity she flaunted like a sledge hammer.

"Welllllll Hullo Misato!" she called cheerfully as Toji continued to try and extricate his hat with little success, growling slightly in frustration. "How have you been?"

"Just fine" Misato replied, looking over the other. "Goodness, you've grown some haven't you?"

"Uh-huh!" she agreed happily, before putting her hands on her hips. "And I'm not just taller either, my figures filled out as well" she boasted.

Misato smiled tolerantly at her before speaking up slightly for the benefit of the three other people around her. "Let me introduce you. This is the designated pilot of Eva unit Two, the Second Child; Asuka Langley Sohryu".

Shinji, in a singular perfect moment of revelation –which lucky people might have perhaps one or two times in their lifetimes- finally understood the phrase 'deer in headlights'. Why those majestic animals just _froze_ as enormous, fast moving vehicles came bearing down on them, even when they had plenty of time to get out of the way.

Because right now, despite knowing what was about to happen, despite being aware of the consequences…he found himself unable to look away as a gust of wind pushed across the flight deck, billowing Asuka's dress at her waist and giving the trio of young men in front of her a splendid view of her utterly gorgeous legs and white, lacey –probably cotton- undergarments-

_CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!_

Ouch.

He was hardly a person who was _comfortable_ with pain, let alone some kind of pervert who got off on it…but he found himself suddenly ruthlessly fighting back tears that had nothing to do with his stinging cheek.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Toji demanded as he scrambled to his feet, his cap firmly clenched in his right hand as he glared at Asuka.

Misato was clearly trying not to laugh as Toji was about five seconds from blowing his top and even Kensuke had a wince on his face looking at the impending showdown between the two ego cases.

"That's the viewing fee" she sniffed. "Quite a bargain don't you think?"

"It's overpriced" Toji replied with a strange half snarl, half scoff, anger starting to replace the throbbing shock as he reached for his belt. _So this prima donna has a high opinion of herself does she_?_Well then, how would _she_ like_-

His hands stopped just as they reached his belt from the pressure of another hand falling on his shoulder. Glancing back, he saw Shinji shake his head, the somewhat amused expression on his face saying 'trust me, you _don't_want to do this'. Growling, Toji let go and retreated back beside Misato, leaving Shinji in the vanguard to face the person Toji had already named 'The Red Demon' in his mind.

"So!" Asuka cheerfully, stepping forward as if nothing had just happened and about to ask a question before she paused as she spotted the strident patch on Shinji's jacket and turned the full force of her gaze onto him, before aggressively stepping into his personal space and narrowing her eyes in study.

It took every _ounce_ of his self control, of his newfound confidence _and_ his strength not to wrap his arms around her, hold her tight and start crying his eyes out as he apologized for everything, as she brought her face to within inches of his.

If she saw the play of emotions across his face, she didn't comment on them, huffing instead as she backed away, her brief inspection completed, her eyes opening doubtfully.

"Well. So, this is the famous Third Child then?"

"Yes" he managed to get out in a surprisingly level voice that gave him some tiny amount of confidence, desperately trying to keep his head clear as he knew the _one__thing_ that would turn Asuka against him faster then anything else would be acting like a spineless wimp. "And you would be the famous Second Child Misato is always talking about"

"She does?" Asuka asked, her smile twitching wider and a flash of vanity pulsing in her stunning eyes.

_I do? _Misato wondered with a frown, wondering if perhaps she really _was_drinking too much and her memory was starting to be affected…

"The most heavily trained pilot of our group - over a decades worth of training in fact, a college degree your belt at fourteen years old and the designated pilot for the first production model Evangelion" he said, inclining his head slightly.

_That's it Shinji, stroke that ego like you want to stoke her long silky…PAY ATTENTION!!_

"Well I'm glad to see Misato has taught you to maintain the proper level of respect for my superior skills, intelligence and beauty!" she declared with an imperious lift of her chin and impish smile, flinging her hair back into place as she stepped back several meters, glancing approvingly at his jacket and stabbing her finger out at it. "Say Misato, when do _I_get one of those?"

"When we arrive back at NERV central and you go on duty" Misato replied, blinking away her surprise at how much Shinji knew about Asuka and guessing he had actually spent the time to read the parts of her general file – at least the parts he could access with his low level account on the MAGI.

_But why did he say I told him all of those things about her? _She wondered, before shrugging and gesturing everyone towards the ships island.

* * *

"NERV" Vice Admiral Robert Coones of the United States Navy said several minutes later on the _Rainbows_ Flag Bridge, as if the word summed up every single thing that was wrong with the world, his job and his mission.

_Which, actually, wasn't such an illogical position, come to think of it_Shinji reflected as the senior officer glared at Misato.

"From your actions on the flight deck, I take it _you_are the leader of this gang of boy scouts? Obviously, I was mistaken" he snorted, handing Misato back her card. Misato, in her full working uniform including a red beret on her head kept a calm, level expression on her face.

"Thank you, for all your gracious hospitality Admiral" she said with the expected difference from a junior officer to a superior one.

"Oh no, thank _you _for giving me the opportunity to baby sit even _more_kids!" Coones said with a roll of his eyes towards the ceiling, as if pleading with some divine force to kill him now.

Kensuke, who passed behind Misato giggling softly as he walked around videotaping everything, punctuated the Flag officers complaint rather pointedly.

"And thank you" for your assistance in the marine transport of Evangelion Unit Two" Misato replied, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice. As a nominal O3 Captain in the UN Army on detached service with NERV, Misato was outranked by roughly six levels of rank by the O9 Vice Admiral, but the fact that she _was_attached to NERV muddied the waters considerably, letting her get away with much more back talk then any normal officer could have. "Here are the specifications for the emergency power supply socket"

The Admiral glanced over the cover sheet, signed by both _his_ immediate superior and some person named Gendo Ikari before snorting yet again. "You've wasted a trip, I'd never agree to _any_request to activate that…toy at sea in the first place!"

Shinji felt, rather then saw Asuka's eyebrows twitch at 'her' Evangelion being denigrated as little more then a toy, but she kept her peace as Shinji struggled to keep his composure. Her presence right behind his shoulder was slowly smothering him regardless of how much he tried to focus on something, _anything_ else. Her familiar scent, a mixture of her vanilla conditioners and even that expensive German deodorant she had categorically insisted on importing over local brands slowly worked their magic on Shinji, preventing him from being able to concentrate for more then a few seconds at a time.

_God damn it, I have to get away from her before I break down right here!_

"Just think of it as being prepared for any eventuality" Misato tried one last time to make her peace with the officer in front of her. "The Eva is quite valuable Sir".

"So valuable that the _entire pacific fleet _is guarding it!" he bit out. "When the _hell_ did the UN re-commission us into a bloody cargo service?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, it was about the same time as a certain secret organization went active and started throwing its weight around" his Captain put in.

"What a grandiose assignment for the entire pacific fleet" the Admiral repeated again as if he just couldn't believe it. "All for that_toy_"

Shinji couldn't help but roll his eye at the Admirals continual dismissal of the Evangelion.

"You have a problem young man?" the Admiral addressed him directly with a rather disapproving tone in his voice.

Shinji caught the warning glance from Misato, but didn't care, glad to have something, _anything_, to distract him from Asuka's overwhelming presence.

"Admiral, have you ever been in combat?" he asked bluntly, then as the Admiral opened his mouth, added "and I mean _real_combat, on the front line, not on the bridge directing other men from a distance".

The Admiral glared at him. Shinji took that as a 'no'.

"Well Sir, I _have_, so has the First Child and I'm sure very shortly, so too will have the Second" he said, jerking his head slightly in the direction of Asuka beside him. "In my first engagement, I went up against an Angel that chewed through a Tank Battalion in four minutes flat, destroyed three dozen aircraft and took more firepower then this entire _battle group_ could dish out, right up to the use of Strategic scale N2 weapons. The UN and JSSDF threw everything they had at it and barely _slowed__it__down_ at the cost of over a thousand lives and half a billion US dollars".

Shinji waited a few seconds as a vein on the Admirals forehead started to pulse as he took a breath and continued, keeping his voice calm and level.

"With the greatest of respect, Sir" he continued, "the twin of that _toy_you are transporting took out _that_ Angel in sixty three _seconds_, with no civilian casualties, no military casualties _and_ minimal collateral damage to the city it was fighting in. Us 'kids' have to pilot these things because there isn't anyone else who _can_. While our classmates at _school _are worrying about who they'll invite to the dance, we are wondering if tomorrow we'll _die_ as we're ripped to pieces by something nuclear weapons barely slow down, knowing if we fail, out entire race is going to die. So, respectfully, I'd ask you to show some _fucking__respect_".

The silence on the bridge was so total that Shinji decided that you wouldn't just be able to hear a pin drop, but the sound of it falling through the air would have been deafening for the two or so seconds no-one _dared_ to speak, move or breathe in.

_Jesus H Christ where did _that_come from_ Shinji wondered in astonishment. Was just being _around_Asuka spiking his testosterone levels enough to do that?

"You four; clear the bridge" Misato ordered her charges without looking away from the Admiral, feeling that if she did look at Shinji, she wouldn't be able to stop from reaching over and hugging him so tightly he would probably choke…which would ruin the effect.

"Mam" Shinji acknowledged in that same perfectly level tone that sounded disturbingly like his Father, wheeling around and heading for the door, just missing the look of admiration that had fleetingly passed over Asuka's face as she fell into step behind him along with Toji and surprisingly even Kensuke, who didn't protest as they hurried off the bridge and out the door.

"My apologies for that Admiral" Misato lied through her teeth. "He's had a very hard couple of months".

"I understand" he nodded briefly then sighed, the Admiral ruefully admitting to himself that he hadn't exactly been diplomatic, or picked the right target to vent his frustration with being turned into a glorified cargo service on. "Please…convey my apologies to the pilots if I was out of line" he said briefly.

"Yes Sir" she nodded. "Well, please continued to New Yokosuka as planned" she said with a salute, before backing off the bridge and following the Children out the door, fighting to keep the grin off her face.

"Shinji…" Toji said in pure admiration as the quartet of current and future classmates exited the bridge, "that was the most bad ass thing I have ever seen anyone do in my life".

"To put it mildly" Kensuke agreed, the expression on his face suggesting he was on the verge of getting down and worshipping his friend in awe after that performance.

Shinji felt rather then saw Asuka staring at him, turning to try and decode the odd expression on her face, which promptly fell off as he returned her gaze.

"Well_good__going_ Third Child, now we've been kicked off the bridge for the rest of this trip!"

"That Admiral deserved it" Toji rebuffed Asuka, as always, the one person utterly fearless of her wraith. "Or are you just jealous that you couldn't say it first as you haven't actually _been_in combat yet? Have you Rookie?"

Asuka's gaze went from 'conversation condescending' to 'hyper death' in about a half second and Shinji took an involuntary step back from the Second Child, knowing in his heart that Toji was a dead man-

"Okay that's enough" Misato said as she joined them, shooting a warning look at both Asuka and Toji that caused them both to grudgingly back down, the small party heading down the stairs towards a small elevator. "Shinji, officially, I have to formally tell you that that kind of behavior to a senior UN officer is not acceptable from NERV personnel and you…ah to hell with it, that was just brilliant kid!" she smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

The group chuckled at that and Shinji felt his face go slightly red, before a new voice broke in sounding highly amused.

"Well I can see you're as _confident_ as ever" a man said, causing Asuka's face to light up in delight and Misato's to frown slightly, as if she was trying to match up something in her memory.

The group turned to see a man in his late 20's or early 30's in a blue shirt leaning against the wall, just inside the cross corridor at the base of the stairwell. A slight stubble was present over his face and his tie was hanging somewhat loose in a way no officer on this ship would ever accept…but the combination Shinji knew, for some reason, drove most women utterly nuts.

"KAJI!" Asuka gleefully shouted, her hands clasping together in delight.

Misato's expression was so utterly priceless that Shinji kicked himself for not having Kensuke tape this moment as Kaji levered himself off the wall and sauntered over towards the group with that same, self assured grin Shinji remembered.

Misato looked desperately at the elevator, as if calculating her chances of diving inside and stabbing the buttons on the control panel, but clearly decided she would never make it solo as the doors opened, the six people forcing their way into an elevator really designed for three.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Misato demanded as the elevator dropped down the Island into the honeycomb of compartments under the flight deck…far too slowly.

"Accompanying Asuka" Kaji replied as smoothly as he could, given that he like everyone else had utterly no room to move. "I'm on a…business trip of sorts, from the Third Branch".

"I should have anticipated this" Misato growled, closing her eyes for a second, then snapping them wide open again.

"HEY! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Misato shouted as Asuka also let loose a shout of protest and horror.

"I CAN'T HELP IT!" Kaji and Toji protested right back.

The elevator ride ended a few seconds later and the group all but fell out into the passage just outside the small Captains mess Misato had been directed to. Misato sprinted out first, no mean feet given that she had been at the back of the elevator, followed by the quartet of children and slowly pursuing Kaji, the group claiming a table right next to a TV set, some movie Shinji vaguely remembered from a few years ago playing on it. Misato who made it to the table first took one corner of it with Toji claiming the seat next to her and Kaji claiming the seat opposite her as a matter of course. Asuka of course took the seat next to Kaji and Kensuke –sensibly- chose Toji over Asuka, leaving Shinji the seat he both wanted and dreaded next to the Second Child, as cups of tea and coffee were served up by a steward.

"So…are you seeing anyone?" Kaji asked, his foot tapping softly against Misato's own after the silence had stretched uncomfortably.

"I don't think that's any of your business" she replied shortly, continuing to ignore him as she focused her attention at the TV with a look of irritation on her face, pulling her legs back sharply away from his when he didn't stop.

"Oh. I'm hurt" he mock pouted with a slight chuckle, taking a sip of the excellent USN coffee with a sigh before placing the cup down and leaning forward to look past Asuka.

"So" Kaji smiled at Shinji. "I understand that you're living with Katsuragi now aren't you?"

Shinji nodded and Kaji leaned forward even more, the smile on his face turning somewhat conspiratorial.

"So tell me…is she still wild in bed?"

There was a collective 'WHAAAT?' from the other four people on the table as Kaji's words sunk in.

Asuka, Toji and Kensuke backed away from Kaji, their arms coming up simultaneously in exactly the same warding gesture, Shinji noting to his amusement it would be one of the few times _those_three had exactly the same reaction like that.

Misato who had been slumped in her chair and studiously ignoring Kaji sat up in utter shock, her feet pressing against the floor with enough force to tilt her chair backward slightly, before it crashed forward again, Misato rebounding off the Table as she lunched forward, her arms slamming down with enough force to upset three of the coffee mugs as she brought her face now almost as red as her uniform to within inches of Kaji.

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU IMPLYING BY THAT?!" she demanded in an enraged voice that would have probably made Gendo Ikari himself flinch.

Kaji on the other hand simply smiled slightly, his eyes flicking to her enraged face then back to Shinji with a sigh.

"No…she hasn't changed at all, has she Shinji?" he commented as Misato's face lost its color slowly, rage giving way to embarrassment as she realized how easily Kaji had pushed her buttons…

"Was she just as obsessed about keeping her house clean with absolutely no alcohol back when you knew her?" Shinji asked in a tone of mild curiosity.

Kaji blinked…then burst out laughing as he got the joke.

Misato glared at both of them, then slinked down back into her chair, holding her head in her hands and moaning as if in great pain.

"Ah I see your famous sense of humor is as razor sharp as I've heard".

"So why do you know so much about me?" Shinji asked Kensuke started to right the cups, luckily all empty, that had fallen over.

"Well you're rather well known in my line of work for NERV" he smiled. "The famous Third Child who piloted an Eva in his first battle with no training!"

Asuka who had just lowered her arms now turned in her chair to glare at him out of the corner of her eyes at the praise from Kaji, making Shinji swallow slightly.

"I was incredibly lucky in that battle, the Eva went out of control and I had very little to do with anything that happened" he hastily explained.

Asuka's expression changed slightly as if in consideration before it started to ease, the Second Child apparently deciding this excused his performance in the First Battle of Tokyo-3.

Misato then ruined it of course.

"But the next Angel you fought on your own" she pointed out, rejoining the conversation as she refused to let Shinji put himself down, her pride in him coming forth at the worst possible time. "You made Unit One move in ways even the people who designed the Eva's couldn't understand!"

_Misato…I hate you_ Shinji thought as Asuka's glare, which had started to weaken, was suddenly reinforced to a level that Shinji suspected would have fried the 5th Angel, without the need for anything so mundane as a positron cannon.

_I need to change the logo on my NERV patch to 'Asuka is angry with me, all is right with the world' _Shinji decided with a mental sigh.

"I was just lucky" Shinji shrugged, shooting Misato a look that begged her to just drop the subject which she finally got, backing off in understanding..

"Luck is a part of your destiny" Kaji smiled, noting the interplay and realizing Shinji _did_ recognize the source of Asuka's hostility towards him. _Smart kid indeed…_

"Well" Kaji continued, standing, "I've got to be going now so I'll see you later".

"Bye" Shinji nodded politely as he stepped away from the table, giving the still furiously shocked Misato an amused smile as Asuka quickly followed in his wake without so much as glance back at the rest of the table.

"This has to just be a nightmare" the Director of Operations moaned to herself, wondering how what had started as such a pleasant day had turned so horrible.

* * *

Buried a hundred meters under what had been a park in one of Japans coastal cities fifteen years ago, Gaghiel stirred. It felt something, a presence it had not felt for quite some time; approaching…floating on the surface of the water it now knew was above it. A presence that, even in its pathetically diminished state sung to it and woke it from its long slumber.

Shrugging off countless tens of thousands of tons of stone and ruble with a pulse of its AT field, the 6th Angel rose from the surface of the Earth in a cloud of mud and silt, then swum at speed to the North.

* * *

A few minutes later as the UN Battle Group continued to make its way down Japans Eastern coast, Asuka leaned over the safety rail on one of the carriers numerous observation platforms, her legs carefully tucked through a lower railing to ensure her safety as she breathed the fresh air, content with the presence of the perfect man next to her.

"So" Kaji asked, curious to get the reaction of his young charge beside him. "What do you think of our famous Shinji Ikari?"

Asuka snorted slightly, but found that she had no quick answer to that question. On one hand, she wasn't exactly _happy_ with the way he had been praised to death by Misato and even her beloved Kaji, just because he had been on call when the Angels arrived instead of her…

But on the other hand…she had watched him go head to head with that Admiral when Misato clearly wasn't going to stick up for them and he clearly was in awe of her from the way Misato had used her, correctly, as a pilot eminently worthy of emulation…

"He's…boring" she finally decided, but knew Kaji would hear the doubt in her voice, over the usually dismissive tones she would have used.

"Hmm…and yet, he has consistently maintained an in-combat Synch ratio of over ninety percent since his first engagement" Kaji pointed out, watching his charge closely.

Asuka didn't fall overboard only because she had carefully wrapped her legs around a lower railing in a way that let her lean over the upper railing in safety _before_Kaji had delivered the news.

Still, she fell down through the lower railing in utter shock, crashing to a halt on an impromptu seat as she started, dumbfounded, at Kaji.

"Mein Gott in Himmel" Asuka choked out before extricating herself.

"You okay?" he asked in concern.

"I'm fine!" she snapped back then frowned. "Sorry Kaji, you don't deserve that, just that…jerk…" her voice trailed off as she slowly came to grips with the idea that suddenly all those years of work she had put into inching her Synchronization Ratio up to its wonderful place in the high 70th percentile was destroyed by that once sentence from Kaji.

_Alright Third Child_ she decided,_you want a fight? I'll give you a fight! _

With a look in her eyes that made Kaji want to pity Shinji, Asuka stormed past him and back into the carrier, clearly going in search for the pilot of Unit One.

_Those two are going to be…interesting to watch together _he decided. _Assuming they don't kill each other in the next five minutes, the two of them might, just might…_

Shaking his head one last time in amusement at _that_ thought, reflections of his own crazy relationship with Misato flashing through his mind, Kaji followed Asuka through the hatch, but turned instead to the narrow staircase just inside that led down into the bowels of the ship.

Several minutes later, he had worked his way to the relatively luxurious quarters he had stayed in. Heading in, he glanced around the room carefully and noticed the telltale signs he had put in place to see if anything had been disturbed were all intact, suggesting that no-one had broke in while he was away. He still double checked the heavily armored 'briefcase' sitting against a wall anyway, pleased to see the tamper proof seals was still intact, when there was a quiet knock at the door.

He felt his hand twitch slightly for his sidearm, currently resting on his bed before calming himself as he grinned, guessing who this was.

Sure she would slap him around a few times, but after that…well…who knows?

Opening the door, his grin faded into a disappointed sigh.

"Oh, hi there Shinji…well…" he said, sticking his head out in hope to look up and down the corridor before sighing and waving Shinji inside. "I have to admit I'm hurt you didn't bring Misato with you".

"Sorry about that" Shinji smiled slightly, before letting his face fall to a much more bleak expression as Kaji shut the door behind him, trying not to shudder too much at the site of the armored briefcase against the wall. "We...need to talk".

* * *

Just under an hour later, Shinji returned to the Captains mess with Kaji in tow, to find Misato, Toji Kensuke and surprisingly, Asuka, sitting around finishing up lunch.

"Where did _you _run off…oh" Misato cut herself off as Kaji followed Shinji into the room, a green pilots flight suit on over his shirt and tie, a flight helmet under one arm…and a large gray suitcase under his other arm.

Misato's eyes went wide with delight.

"You've convinced him to leave?" she breathed in hope.

"Actually I have an…urgent delivery to make" he said with his famous smile at Misato. "But I'll see you all a little later in Tokyo Three".

His eyes flickered down the front of her uniform jacket which was lying open, confirming the cross given to her by her Father, was still very much there.

Predictably, Misato leapt to the wrong -but perfectly understandable- conclusion, grabbing her jacket and slamming it shut as if it was a banks vault.

"It's a big city, don't count on it Pervert".

Kaji sighed tolerantly, leaning back again.

"Well, tomorrow is another day Misato. And I must be off now".

"Can't I come along too?" Askua complained, clearly not liking the idea of 'her' Kaji being out of immediate reach.

Kaji just smiled at her tolerantly.

"I'm sorry my dear, but _someone_ from the Third Branch has to stay here and watch over Unit Two".

"Hey…that's right" she said suddenly, as if embarrassed she had forgotten. "Well you don't have to worry, I won't let you down!"

"I know you won't" he said with a sincere smile, before turning back to Shinji. "Well, Mister Ikari, I shall see you later. I am looking forward to continuing our conversation".

"What conversation" Asuka and Misato asked in perfect synchronization and perfect suspicion, jumping slightly as they looked at each other, then looked away, embarrassment on their faces.

"Oh…this and that" Kaji said vaguely, heading for the door, glancing at the blushing Misato, then looking at Asuka before grinning knowingly at Shinji as he left the group behind.

As he wandered down the stairs to the hanger level, he reflected that suddenly this had become…a much more interesting trip then he had figured on.

At_most_, he had thought he might have had to kill some deep cover SEELE agent among the crew, if SEELE had figured out he had taken Adam from them and issued retaliation orders.

Though Asuka's half drunken insistence last night that she was ready to 'do the other stuff' with him, followed by her flashing him had been almost enough to cause him to choke on his beer.

But even that had been _nothing_ next to Shinji's revelations…

At first he had simply thought he was joking and Misato was trying to get back at him, trying to figure out her angle but having no luck.

Then he had started to figure it that the Third Child was just, well, insane.

Then he had wondered if this was all some trap from either his Father or SEELE, using a fourteen year old kid as an agent provocateur, as unlikely as it was.

Then after he had calmly listed off things no-one, not SEELE, not his Father not Misato could _possibly_ know about his 'jobs', about Misato and his history with her that she would _never _share with anyone…about his brother…

It was at that point Kaji had admitted the possibility, however terrifying, that Shinji Ikari might just be telling the truth…and somehow, he had gained an extraordinary amount of trust from him that had lead to him coming to him.

And if he was telling the truth…if NERV and SEELE didn't exist to_stop _the Third Impact, but _initiate_one of their own design…or designs depending on who controlled it...

_Well the game just got far more interesting _he decided with a slight shake of his head, exiting onto the lower hanger deck where a Russian Yak-38 Custom with its pilot was standing by. If Shinji was telling the truth and an Angel was going to attack in less then an hour, well…as Shinji had pointed out, having Adam in the same area was probably _not_a good idea.

And if an Angel shaped like a giant fish about the size of this ship _did_attack…

Placing his briefcase into the tiny rear cargo compartment and ensuring it was secure; Kaji stepped up the ladder and jumped down into the cockpit as the engines spun up.

* * *

Back in the Captains mess, Asuka watched Kaji leave with a sigh, annoyed that he was running out on her and leaving her with these jerks, but knowing he was correct that as the only other representative of the Third Branch, _and _the designated pilot it was clearly _her_ duty to stay with Unit Two until it arrived in Japan.

And speaking of Unit Two…

"Third Child" she said, standing up suddenly from her seat without warning. "Come with me".

Shinji to her annoyance didn't instantly obey, instead raising an eyebrow slightly and turning to Misato, dropping his voice to a much lower pitch.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear her say that…"

Misato almost sent the coffee she was drinking out through her nose as she desperately tried to suppress her laugher, those other two morons the kid had brought with him not even trying to hide their own as they collapsed laughing.

Asuka felt her right eye twitch.

"Don't make me destroy you" she ground out in a tone that would have frozen lava, wondering _why_ the Third Child was getting under her skin like he was.

* * *

The ride over in the small fleet launch was at least fast, Shinji feeling terrified the whole way that the 6th Angel would show up early and destroy them without even realizing it had run them over, but they made it to the civilian freighter uneventfully. Asuka, despite wearing near heals and a long dress scampered up the rocking stairway that hung off the side of the freighter fearlessly, Shinji following at a much more cautious pace as the framework swayed and groaned from the movement of the ship.

"Will you come _on _already?" Asuka demanded impatiently at the top

"Coming dear" he muttered, albeit low enough so she wouldn't hear as he continued to put one foot after the other, trying not to look down at the deep waters of the pacific under him.

There were things in the water today far more deadly then mere sharks after all.

"Finally" she huffed when he reached the top, then to his surprise, grabbed his hand and marched him firmly up towards the bow of the ship.

Shinji was so startled by the physical contact of her slender fingers around his hand that he almost stood around gawking, but somehow managed to – just - get his suddenly shaking legs into motion.

He thought about saying something…but in the end decided to just live in the moment. He knew Asuka wasn't holding onto his hand because she _liked _him, just because it was the most convenient way to hurry his ass along…but he didn't give a damn, griping her back ever so slightly.

Eventually, she let got as they arrived at the forward edge of the container, pulling up a section of the tarpaulin not tied down with a flourish.

"Well…its color suits you" Shinji said on reflex, hoping to sound sincere, but cursing himself for saying such a corny, idiotic thing.

"_What_ do you mean by that" she said, her eyes narrowing.

"I mean the red…it's like your hair…" he said dumbly, knowing he had to play it out and bracing for the slap.

Asuka simply blinked, looked away for a second and then turned to head in, gesturing for Shinji to follow, who let out a slow breath in thanks for dodging that mistake.

"Well…the color isn't the only difference Asuka said", confidently walking down the linked ribbon bridges that took her across to the giant Evangelion lying on its front in the coolant before boldly hopping up to climb to the highest point of its back as Shinji cautiously followed across the bridge.

_Don't look up the dress. For the LOVE OF GOD Shinji, don't look up the dress!_

"Units Zero and One were created as part of the development process, the prototype and test-type proof of concept respectively" Asuka stated with a superior sounding tone in her voice. "The fact that it synchronized with an untrained pilot like _you_ is proof of that. But _my_ Unit 02 is different; created for actual combat conditions it's the world's first true Evangelion!"

Shinji's irritation with her denigrating both his and Rei's Evangelions increased to the point he was tempted to point out that as a general rule, bleeding edge technological prototypes required far more skill and ability to control then production model variants, but was tempered by the fact that Kaji had mentioned Asuka clearly felt her 'top pilot' status was now under direct threat from him.

Given that her pride in her piloting abilities was, when you got down to it, all that Asuka Langley Sohryu thought she _had_, Shinji kept his peace. He had seen the nightmare that had happened when herpride was shattered and he had utterly no wish to see _that_ door open _ever again…_

"So. What do you think of _my_Unit Two, Third Child?" she asked with a smirk.

Shinji opened his mouth to reply with a generally approving statement that pointed out nominally Unit Two was several billion dollars of UN taxpayers property and her really 'hers' but was cut off as the rumble of an explosion echoed through the enclosed area, Asuka almost loosing her balance as a shockwave passed through the ships hull.

"What in the-"

"Undersea shock wave" Asuka exclaimed, sliding down the side of her Eva then jumping down to the floating bridge. "And it sounded close!"

The two children raced back out to the freighters port side just in time to see a Frigate in the far distance explode in a huge ball of fire, a skimming wave of water streaking away from it as something huge but submerged zipped through the outer edges of the fleet.

"What in the hell is that?" Asuka demanded.

"An Angel" Shinji replied curtly, feeling a sick ball in his stomach as he watched the funeral pyre of what, three hundred good men who he hadn't been able to save?

Gritting his teeth, he watched another ship, a larger Cruiser or Battleship he guessed, shuddered as the wave front passed under it. There was no explosion this time, but the ship rapidly started to fall out of line and ever so slowly settle into the water, the rest of the fleet breaking up its formation, water churning at the sterns of ships as they clawed for maneuvering room, klaxons and sirens screaming.

Making a snap decision, he grabbed Asuka's hand and started moving towards the bridge, enjoying the reversal greatly from the last time she had almost yanked his arm out of its socket as she had run around the ship looking for somewhere to change.

"What are you _doing_?" she demanded as she hurried along after him…though Shinji couldn't help but note as she closed her hand around his while he pulled her along…

"We have to go to the bridge and tell them to move this ship as close to the _Rainbow_ -and your power cable- as possible. Unless you feel like swimming in B type equipment".

"Well why can't you do it yourself?"

"Because I don't speak English and this is an American ship?"

"Baka" she snorted, hiding her embarrassment at the obvious problems by attacking his flawed strategy. "We can call it in from inside here" Asuka snapped, pulling him to a halt then back under the tarp and to a nearby sound powered phone on the wall. She picked it up, conversed tersely in English with Shinji picking up perhaps one in every five words for about a minute before she hung up with a satisfied expression. Seconds later, Shinji heard the rumble of the ships engines increase in pitch.

"There" she said, looking around and then reaching into an alcove to pick up a large red bag, smiling. "Well come on then Third Child; you are going to have the singular honor of watching as Asuka Langley Sohryu defeats this Angel!"

* * *

"To all ships, fan out and take evasive action! Radio room, status?"

"The_Bristol_ has gone silent! _Kongo_ can't locate the target and _Kirov_ is taking on water!"

"Damn it to hell" Coones snapped as the _Rainbow_ accelerated into a radical turn under him, a pair each of _Burke_ and _Udaloy_ class destroyer escorts holding formation as they clawed for maneuvering room. "What in God's name is going on here?"

"That would probably be an Angel attack" the voice of Misato Katsuragi came cheerfully back from the door to his bridge.

"This is a combat situation Captain, get the hell of my bridge" he snapped without turning around, his binoculars following the wave of water thrashing off their port quarter in the distance. "Send to all ships; engage ASW, fire at will!"

"It's pointless" Misato sighed to herself, knowing she was wasting her breath as much as those ships were wasting ammo.

A mixed formation of ex US/UK Frigates linked into the UN Battle Net tracked the enormous contact with their anti submarine technology, locking in a salvo of relatively lightweight ASW torpedoes and calculating the optimal spread pattern over several milliseconds.

Finally satisfied with their work, they eventually told the lowly, inefficient humans in the loop to open fire.

A pattern of torpedoes from VLS ASCROC launchers and Mark 32 torpedo tubes crashed into the water around the Angel, bracketing it so even if it had evaded, it would still probably have be caught by some of them. The Angel however didn't even bother to evade as the torpedoes pounded into its AT field with no more effect then plankton hitting the steel hulls of the ships around it.

As if to make the point about how stupid an idea attacking it had been, the Angel dove under a nearby frigate which uselessly tried to turn hard inside the closing target, rolling and almost lazy pointing a fin up at its belly, the monomolecular thin AT field projected from it slicing right through the ship like a knife through butter, its unfired Surface to Air Missiles detonating in a brilliant explosion that snapped its keel in half.

As the explosions shockwave rattled the windows of the flag bridge, the Admiral crashed his fist against a bulkhead, watching more of his men die as the smoke cleared to show the stern of the stricken frigate sinking, pathetically few survivors visible in the water.

"Why in the hell won't it sink?" Coones demanded, not expecting an answer, but getting one anyway…and not from one of his officers.

"Only an Eva can beat it".

"_What_ was that?" the Admiral demanded, swinging his glare to one of those two other boys who had followed Captain Katsuragi onto the bridge.

"Uh, nothing" the same boy said, suddenly quailing in the face of the glares at him to hide behind the NERV officer.

"The Angel is protected by a defensive barrier known as an AT field" Misato supplied, deciding the kids behind her could be trusted to keep a secret…though she made a point to have Kensuke's tapes censored after the battle. "It's effectively impervious to conventional weapons".

"Why in the hell wasn't I informed about this?" the senior officer fumed. Misato shrugged.

"Need to know basis Sir" she said, glancing out the window again. "Unit Two is capable of generating its own AT field that will neutralize the Angels…" she let her voice trail off as she looked down at the spray of water. Strangely, the Angel now appeared to be simply circling up and down the convoy, almost as if…

_Is it looking for something?_

_But the only thing of any real value is…_

"Oh no…is it after Unit Two?"

* * *

As the explosions continued to echo across the water, Asuka opened her sports bag, looking inside in approval at the contents. A voice crackled in English over the loudspeakers causing Asuka to cock her head slightly, and then nod, looking up at Shinji.

"The Captain is saying we're approaching _Over the_ _Rainbow_…urgh, we don't have time to fine somewhere to change" she fretted, looking around desperately before focusing on Shinji with a determined look in her eyes. "Okay Third Child. I'm going to change into my plug suit. _You_ will turn around, look at that far bulkhead and keep your eyes _shut_ until I say otherwise, or I swear to whatever God you believe in that-"

"Understood!" he said quickly, spinning around and shutting his eyes, not needing to hear the rest of Asuka's threats to know she meant _every__single__word_ of whatever form of grievous bodily harm she had been going to threaten him with.

He felt her burning glare on his back for a few seconds, and then heard her dress rustle as she removed it, followed by her undergarments leaving her utterly naked, a zipper sounding as she retrieved her plug suit.

He trembled slightly at the thought of Asuka's naked body behind him. Not to much fir typical male reasons, but because he remembered the first and last time he had seen her naked…and how he had used her body in ways that almost made him want to throw up right then now at how perverted he had acted.

_How disgusting _he thought with a slight shudder.

With a slight hiss behind him, Asuka's plug suit inflated, but he still didn't dare to turn around or open his eyes, until a grudging "okay, you can look" came back. Turning, he couldn't help but smile slightly at the familiar site of the Second Child in her scarlet plug suit

_Well he didn't look _Asuka thought to herself, a strange spike of irrational annoyance that he hadn't_ tried_ to look coming from somewhere at the slight smile he was directing at her, before she caught herself in shock wondering what in the hell was going on with her mind before she shook it off, reaching down and tossing him one of her spare plug suits. "Well?" she asked at the slight downturn in the corner of his mouth as he looked at it, "Put it on!"

Wincing slightly at the knowledge of how…tight…certain parts of the suit, designed for Asuka's body were, Shinji sighed and started to remove his jacket as Asuka danced away towards Unit Two.

"Let's go, Asuka" he heard her whisper to herself and he couldn't help but grin at her pure, raw confidence.

_That,_he had missed more then anything else Shinji decided as he stripped.

* * *

"The_Fitzgerald_ has taken a glancing impact to her rear and has heavy damage aft of frame sixteen but is continuing to engage. _New Jersey_ can't depress her guns sufficiently in these close quarters and is disengaging and…oh damnit, we just lost _Chabanenko_" the Flag Captain groaned as the Improved Udaloy class Destroyer rolled over, showing her keel had been neatly sliced open like the tin can she truly was as she sunk to crash into the underwater cityscape along with more then a few others ships from today.

Admiral Coones tried to keep the rage from his face as more of his men went to their depths. They had thrown an absurd amount of ordinance at this thing, but they were still down almost _twenty__percent_ of their ships only ten minutes into this battle! This was going to be the biggest disaster in naval military history since some of the lopsided battles in World War Two if something didn't change!

And he couldn't help but recall what that kid…no, that _pilot_had said to him, as well as his friend a few minutes ago.

_Only an Eva can beat it!_

Taking a breath, he set his jaw.

"What is the position of the _Othello_?"

His Captain glanced at the computerized tactical display which was tracking everything, combining all the various sensors on all the ships into a single unified picture. "She's taking position alongside us Sir" he said in some surprise. The Admiral grunted.

"All stop. Tell the engine room to route all reactor power to that damn external power socket. Captain Katsuragi?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Get that damn thing up and running!"

"Yes Sir" she nodded respectfully, stepping past Shinji's friends and up to the communications console, keying in her NERV priority code and Unit Two's ID. If she knew Asuka…

* * *

It was an annoying fact that Entry Plugs were very much single person affairs, designed to hold an Evangelions pilot securely in place without any thought as to what would happen when multiple people got inside.

Still, Shinji managed to find a place to half sit and half stand relatively securely as the entry plug slammed back inside Unit Two and Asuka started her synchronization.

He felt only a faint echo of the connection with her Evangelion that he did with Unit One, unsurprising given that he wasn't wearing neural interface, but he couldn't help but think the connection was…colder, as if the Evangelion itself recognized him as something different.

Foreign.

It wasn't truly _hostile_, but like something was watching him closely through narrowed eyes from the dark…

Shaking off the forbidding feeling, he listened with half an ear as Asuka proceeded through an abbreviated startup checklist before suddenly a wave of red flashing "Fehler" messages scrolled all over the super cockpit display.

_Opps. Forgot about that_.

"I knew we shouldn't have had Microsoft program these things"

Asuka, who had been sitting in her command couch with her head slightly bowed and total concentration on her face as she went through her synchronization procedure snapped her head around and glared at him.

"It's_thought noise_, I thought I told you not to disturb me!"

"I'm sorry!" he protested and then wanted to kick himself for it, though at least it _was_ a justifiable reaction as it actually _was_his fault.

"You're thinking in Japanese aren't you? If you _must_think, do it in German!"

"Jawohl Mein Fuhrer" he said with a roll of his eyes that would had Asuka punching him, if not for the fact that his blood would just leak through the LCL all around her.

"Bakka" she snapped, turning around and addressing her Eva. "Set language mode to Japanese and Re-Synch!"

The test patterns again whirled around them, this time fading into the standard cockpit view, showing where Unit Two was lying down on its side, Shinji feeling a second, deeper echo of a connection threading between him and the Evangelion, then strangely another thread to Asuka herself, _feeling _her intense concentration through the link.

A communications window popped up, showing Misato who didn't look at all surprised to see Asuka and Shinji in the entry plug.

"I should have expected to see you two here" she laughed lightly. "You ready?'

"Always am" Asuka cheerfully declared. Shinji just nodded, looking around for something firm to grip a hold of….rejecting the idea of her breasts as soon as it came to him with a violent shake of his head.

"Power supply is in place and you're right alongside the _Rainbow_ Asuka!"

"Roger that. Evangelion Unit Two, go, NOW!"

The barely controlled monster that was Evangelion Unit Two shuddered into life, energy surging from the fuel cells in its chest as it moved, the thick secure tarpaulin covering it shredding against its armor plates as it slowly stood, the bottom of the ships hull groaning in protest as the minimal crew on board ran for the lifeboats, having no desire to be on a ship that was about to become a target. As Unit Two rose, it's AT field unfolded with a wavy blur that tore the thick canvas into fragments, sloughing into the sea around…and attracting the attention of the 6th Angel like blood in the water for a shark, the wave of water arrowing for the Freighter at high speed.

"Asuka, Twelve O'clock!" Misato shouted in alarm as the rapidly moving wave arrowed in directly at Unit Two.

"I see it Misato" Asuka growled in the joy of battle, watching as the power counter started at sixty seconds and started counting backwards. "Hang on Ikari!"

With a careful flex of her legs, Asuka leaped off the Freighter, the force almost snapping the keel as Unit Two leaped into the sky, seconds before the Angel slammed into the freighter from below, rebounding from the wreck as it shattered and diving deep into a long turn to its left. Far above it, Asuka reached the apogee of her AT field assisted leap and Unit two plummeted, Shinji yelping behind her in fear to Asuka's delight as she thrust her controls forward for more speed, clearly impatient to get down onto the flight deck.

"UNIT TWO COMING IN FOR LANDING!"

"Sound collision, all hands brace for impact!" the Flag Captain shouted into the 1MC as Unit Two leaped off the deck of the doomed freighter into a high arc, its destination rather clear to every ship in the fleet, dozens of sets of binoculars trained onto the terrifying scarlet figure few of them had seen under those covers as it arced down towards the carrier. All over the flagship, officers and men grabbed onto anything handy a matter of seconds before Unit Two crashed down, the impact denting the very expensive flight deck and instantly making it unusable for conventional operations, the ship listing heavily and sending a handful of aircraft overboard as their tie downs snapped from the movement before Asuka leaned her unit forward and allowed the hundred thousand ton fleet carrier to come level out.

"Switching to external power" she called out as she reached down to where the technicians had installed her three kilometer long power cable, expertly snapping it into place in her back as the clock ran down to thirty seconds, then stopped, power flowing into her Eva..

"Switch completed" she declared seconds later as the clock stopped, hundreds of megawatts flowing into her systems from the enhanced fusion reactors that had been built into the ship several years ago.

"Oh man what a waste!" Kensuke all but sobbed as he tallied the trio of F-14's that had gone overboard, followed by a pair of Su-33's and an E2-D.

"The target is approaching rapidly!" the Flag Captain shouted both over the combat channel to Unit Two as well as the ships intercom, trying to give his crew _some _kind of warning of this crazy battle as the fleets sonar systems traced the Angel finish its long curve just under the surface, moving forward very, very fast.

"You realize we have no room to maneuver and no weapons, don't you?" Shinji asked as the wave front of the Angel arrowed towards them from Starboard at high speed.

"The progressive knife will be just fine" she grinned, drawing Unit Two's more utilitarian knife from her shoulder holster, the vibrating blade looking rather pathetic in Shinji's opinion as the 6th Angel finally surfaced, racing across the water towards them with its enormous bulk.

"Oh, great" he said then paused. "Do you think we should be fair and give him a chance to surrender first?"

"Shut up Ikari" she snapped, shifting her stance slightly as the Angel raced towards them, bobbed down then leapt, clear out of the water and crashed into the side of the Carrier in an attempt to crush. Asuka barely dodged the surprise maneuver, grabbing onto the side of it as it crashed onto the deck, her progressive knife going flying from the impact while support beams under the flight deck groaned at a weight they had never been designed to hold.

"Looking good Asuka" Misato cheerfully commented, just before Asuka looking for firmer footing, shifted onto one of the numerous aircraft elevators, which promptly collapsed under the full force of Unit Two's straining leg muscles, upsetting their balance and cart wheeling the Angel and Evangelion into the sea, the power cord rapidly unwinding behind them.

"So much for German efficiency" Shinji muttered just loud enough for Asuka to hear as the Angel swam deep at speed, crashing itself into the cityscape again and again in an attempt to loose the parasite clinging to it. The Second Child snarled something in her native language that Shinji guessed was _not_ complementary, both of them hanging on for dear life as the Angel crashed through the sunken ruins of what used to be the Fukushima prefecture coast.

* * *

"How much cable is left?" Misato asked, feeling her hopes sink about as fast as Unit Two, watching as the Cable was pulled every which way across the flight deck as it unwound sending more multi million dollar aircraft to Davy Jones, care of NERV.

"Twelve hundred meters and dropping" the Flag Capitan called out, studying the cable reel with his binoculars. The super conductive core was heavily insulated then wrapped in many thousands carbon nanotube segments that gave great flexibility while making it astonishingly strong, but it meant the crew on the flight deck had to keep the hell out of the way of it as it thrashed left, then right, then left again, sparks flying off the deck as it grinded through small fixtures here and there.

"What do we do now?" the Admiral asked in exasperation after several seconds of silence on the bridge as everyone caught up with the insanity.

"We'll think of something" Misato said with as much confidence as she could.

"Well if the Evangelion is engaging it, does that mean this…AT field is disabled?"

"More or less" Misato said, wishing Ritusko was here to answer these questions as she tried to think of some kind of plan to get an Evangelion, underwater in standard B-Type combat armor to fight against an Angel wholly adapted for aquatic combat.

"After seeing the size of that monster, I don't think out torpedoes would even _dent_ it" the Flag Captain put in. "They're designed to punch holes in hollow submarines, not blast apart living things _that_size.

"What about N2 warheads?" Misato asked, getting an 'are you insane?' look from the Admiral which Misato ignored.

"The_Wisconsin_ and _Missouri_ each carry eight, class three N2 warheads for their Cruise Missiles" the Tactical Action Officer supplied after a nod from his Captain checking his computer inventory. "But they are incapable against underwater targets and detonating them on the surface would be suicide".

"Then we don't detonate them on the surface" she said, a plan slowly forming in her mind as she reached for the microphone. "Asuka, Shinji" she shouted, the radio signal passing down the power cable along an integrated fiber optic data line, "how are you doing?"

"We're just fine Misato" Shinji called back cheerfully over he sound of distant crashing and smashing noises. "The Teutonic Terror here has got this thing _right_ where she wants it!"

An explosion of German came back down the line making Misato wince as Asuka submitted that Shinji's ancestry was tied to a much lower level of primate and his sexual habits left much to be desired.

_That girl has spent _way_ too much time around Kaji _Misato shook her head, suddenly not pleased that she remembered so much of her German, turning to look at the tactical display with showed the enormous Angel swimming around under the fleet, before glancing at the reel. "Cables almost out" she warned, get ready for the shock!" Seconds later, the ship jolted slightly as the Cable went taught and pulled, yanking Unit Two free of the Angel and leaving it floating with a neutral buoyancy as Gaghiel moved off into the depths.

"Eva has lost the target" the TAO called, his eyes glued to his readouts both of the fleets status and sensor reports as well as via the datalink from Unit Two itself.

"Admiral?" Misato said, breathing in deeply. He probably wasn't going to like this…

"What now?" he asked, sounding somewhat befuddled by the rapidly changing situation.

"I'm going to need your cooperation".

He raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded for her to continue.

_A_plan was better then _no_plan after all…

"A_nuclear__attack_ with the Battleships?" he asked several seconds later with a disbelieving tone in his voice.

Misato opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off as an alarm sounded from the TAO's board.

"Sirs, the target is approaching Eva again!"

* * *

"Alright" Asuka snarled as the Angel approached, looking far more deadly and threatening in Shinji's mind deep in its natural environment then it had when it tried to crush them on the carrier. "I'll finish it off this time!"

Asuka growled and worked her controls, willing the Eva into action, ready to introduce the Angel to the concept of returning to nothingness.

And she succeeded.

Nothing happened.

"Hey…it's not working!" Asuka cried out, the first faint edge of terror finally going into the voice of a girl who despite all her training, had no real understanding of mortality until this moment.

"It's B-type equipment" Shinji pointed out somewhat gently. Despite the fun he got out of pushing _her_ buttons for a change, he really did love her dearly. "It won't_work _underwater".

"Well what are you going to do?" she demanded, turning towards him as the Angel continued to advance, a look of fear flashing across her face.

"What am _I_ going to do?" he asked in protest.

"You're the famous and oh so perfect Third Child aren't you?" she scoffed, her head turning to bring her face to within centimeters of her own. "DO something!"

_Temptation to lean in and kiss in response rising…rising…_

"Okay" he shrugged, reaching out to grab a hold of the back of her command couch. "I'd hold onto something if I were you…"

Asuka glared, then turned around to the Angel which had gown large enough that she could disable the zoom…just in time to see its mouth open and row upon row of needle sharp teeth come into view.

"TEEEETTTHH" she screeched, backing up deep into her command couch as if desperately trying to get away from the approaching monster, seconds before it crashed into Unit Two and its mouth snapped shut, two of the teeth catching the edge of Unit Two and holding it firmly in place, the Angel looking for all the world like a large tuna that had just taken the bait; Unit Two's legs dangling out of the front of the Angel with the rest of its torso inside, the power cable extending back to the surface like some giant improbable fishing line.

"This just gets better and better" Shinji grunted.

"Oh shut _up _you dork" she snapped at him. "You couldn't have done any better you know!"

"True" he conceded –to her slight surprise…and making her feel satisfied that the Great Shinji Ikari admitted _he_couldn't have done better- "but if I know Misato, she'll be coming up with some insane over the top plan right about-"

"Asuka, Shinji. Whatever you do, don't let go!" Misato's voice came suddenly into their cockpit.

* * *

"Eva has entered the Targets Body" the TAO called, the display blinking slightly before the 6th Generation super computer buried deep in the carrier merged the two sensor icons to a '6th Angel with Eva Unit Two' tag.

"They've been eaten?" Toji said in astonishment and more then a little raw worry. His best friend was down there…and he didn't really want Asuka to die either.

Hurt perhaps, but not dead…yet.

"Uh huh" Misato agreed suddenly, turning one of her dazzling smiles on him. "And its time to real them in" she declared, turning back to the battle before Toji's legs got too shaky from the effects of that awesome smile.

"The ships are evacuated and the nuclear pre-arming sequence has been completed" the Flag Captain called out as he hurried down his checklist, everyone moving with a purpose now that there was a 'Plan', turning back his binoculars on the pair of _Iowa's_. In the post Second Impact wars, they had been hurriedly pressed back into service because the USN had lost most of its fleet in the cataclysm and had needed _anything_ that could float pronto. Extensive and horrifyingly expensive upgrades had reduced their crew numbers to only a few hundred, driven by automation and advanced technology that now served Misato's plans perfectly.

"The ships are on course, remote guidance linked in" the TAO called out as the frigates that had rapidly taken off the crew moved away.

"Alright, do it" the Admiral ordered, feeling a pang as the two proud ships shuddered with huge spurts of air and water rushing out of their sides as they settled.

"Kingston valves opened, scuttle at point Z confirmed" the Captain read of his boards as _Over the Rainbow _eased into position behind and between the two old ladies, the cable extending right down between them. "Crash stop".

"Aye" the helmsmen confirmed, throwing the ships engines into reverse to bleed off speed as the two Battleships, moving at close to thirty knots slid under the waves.

"All back full!"

"Reverse the cable!"

The cable reel's enormously powerful motor cranked into reverse, spinning wildly fast for a few seconds before the cable snapped taught and it slowed down, but steadily pulled the Angel which didn't fight the pull, inwards towards an interception point the ships tactical computers had calculated based on relative velocities, expected positions and probably a hundred other factors that made this plan only preposterous rather then insane.

"Eva has started to surface!" the TAO called as the Evangelion and the Angel chewing on it were pulled slowly towards the surface by the cable.

"Detonation sequence?"

"Set to be transmitted via the Eva's communications systems" the TAO said, hurriedly working his console as the Admiral pulled out a key around his neck. "As soon as it's transmitted, they'll have ten seconds to get clear".

"Make it five" Misato said shortly, getting a stunned look, but shaking her head. "Any longer and the Angel might get it's AT field back up, do it!"

"Aye" he said with a deep breath, altering the settings as the Admiral inserted his own key on his own console, a series of sixteen red icons suddenly turning yellow.

"Shinji, Asuka, do you understand the operation?" Misato's voice crackled over the speakers.

* * *

"We'll do the best job we can" Shinji grunted back, trying not to scream in pain from Asuka yanking on his hair for daring to touch her Evangelion without her permission.

"Will you _stop that _for a second Asuka? You're supposed to be the best damn pilot we've got; if we don't open its mouth by the time those ships arrive, we're going to be vaporized!"

Asuka 'Humphed' but let go of his hair, hesitated a second, then leaned forward, the front of her plug suit coming in contact with his back…the all too sensitive material of the suit letting Shinji feel everything as her chest pressed into his back…

_Oh…my..._he thought as to his horror he felt a stirring inside a plug suit not really designed for a man to wear.

_Think un-sexy thoughts! Think un-sexy thoughts!_

…

_Okay…Father in a one piece worked…but now I'm going to throw up into the LCL. Bad tradeoff Shinji…_

"Don't get any stupid ideas" Asuka warned him, her mouth right next to his ear, her speech sending a wave of warm LCL flooding past his face.

_Waaayyyy too late._

"Works for me" was all he grunted as she extended the grips and opened them, placing her hands on top of his.

"Eva continues to surface" the TAO cried out, his stoic detachment starting to fade as the hastily thought out plan advanced. "T minus sixty to contact".

"How's its mouth?" the Admiral called, his binoculars not shifting from the point well forward where the cable spooled back out of the water at speed.

"Still closed" his Captain called, his own gaze not shifting a millimeter from his readouts.

"Both battleships are sinking in line towards the intercept point, their forward speed decaying along expected curves" another officer called out, the exact active sonar ranges being calculated and recalculated every second in case it would be necessary to speed up or slow down the cable, as the sister ships advanced for their final engagement. "Eva continuing to surface along predicted lines, T-Minus forty to contact!"

"Hurry or you won't make it" Misato demanded down the communications line knowing they had one chance to pull this off...

* * *

It wasn't helping that Asuka remained physically in contact with so much of his body.

Shinji knew his piloting skills were better then ever, his synch ratio at its peak and he had knowledge that no human on Earth could possibly have access to. Including the fact he _and_Asuka would die if they didn't get this Angels mouth open.

But her presence, building up against him for most of the day was finally overwhelming him, flashes from the 'past' moving through his mind at increasing speed every time he tried to move his mind into contact with hers and touch it-

-(Turning around on the floor of Misato's to find Asuka inches away from him, asleep)-

-(Leaning in close in utter fear, wondering if he dared kiss this Goddess)-

-(His heart breaking as he saw a single tear roll down her face and a whimpering cry of "mama")-

-(Catching sight of Asuka waiting outside his hospital room, his roommate ducking away in horror at the fact that he had caught her waiting outside as Rei left)-

-(Asuka's patience snapping as she grabbed him, pinched his nose and pressed her lips against his, every nerve in his body overloading in an instant and locking him into stasis)-

-(A memory of Asuka looking at her reflection shortly after as she faked washing her mouth out, feeling utterly worthless after _he_had not done anything but stand there)-

-(Another memory, looking across at Shinji and Rei at a train station together, her heart breaking as she realized then and there she had lost someone she didn't know she had even _wanted_)-

-(A four year old Girl running down a corridor, so excited she could hardly stop from tripping to tell her mother the news that she was a pilot…only to open the door and find her mummy hanging from the ceiling, her head bent oddly to the side with that doll hanging next to her…its formerly happy smile now utterly terrifying as it rotated towards her)-

-(Looking down on her comatose, naked body…that perfect body that had haunted his dreams, horrified…and aroused…)-

-(The shouts over NERV's speakers as Asuka fought better then he ever could have on his best day, better then Rei, better then Toji, better then anyone as she _became_ her Evangelion in a glorious, futile dance to the death against impossible odds before with a scream it all ended as he sat around helplessly)-

And now, her voice was in the back of his mind, somehow through the link connecting them both to the Evangelion as she furiously tried to force her Evangelion to 'open...open...open' the Angels mouth…the Evangelion responding, but simply not enough without his help...which, to his terrified horror, he realized he couldn't concentrate enough to give her, just when she _needed_him the most, he was going to fail her again!

"T minus twenty! Pre-arming sequence complete! Set for delayed detonate via Unit Two!"

"Come on you two, please" Misato begged, her grip on the microphone so tight the plastic started to crumple slightly.

"T minus fifteen to contact!" the voice came over the link, Shinji feeling the Evangelion pushing and opening the jaws through the shear force Asuka's indomitable will, but it was not nearly enough and there was no-one else here to help her-

Wait…there was one other.

Turning his perceptions around and breaking away from Asuka, he turned_inward_, inside the deep black pit that was the core Evangelion and threw his force against it, pushing with every single fiber of his being, with every shred of love he felt for Asuka and not giving the slightest care what would happen to him.

_KYOKO YOUR DAUGHTER WILL DIE IF YOU DON"T HELP HER!_

Deep inside the Evangelion, where no pilot would dare to look…something…or someone stirred and Shinji felt a titanic presence recoil and slam through his mind like tissue paper, the titanic force of a mother instinctively reacting to protect its young-

Up on the carrier, the unwatched Syncrograph readout on the TAO's board showed Asuka's ratio suddenly spike to 1:1. as Evangelion Unit Two's four eyes suddenly blazed, its head rose up and with a mighty Herculean effort, the Angels mouth was snapped open, Unit Two now only tethered to the Angel by its grip-

-just in time for _Wisconsin_ and _Missouri _to smash into the Angel, 90,000 tons of ships hitting at a combined speed of roughly forty knots.

Momentum, was a bitch.

The Angel itself was huge, but actually massed very little; this being the reason why despite being the _size_ of _Over the Rainbow, _its little stunt on the flight deck hadn't snapped the ship in half upon landing. With its AT field nullified by the presence of Unit Two, the twin Battleships hit and dug deep into the flanks of the Angel, sending it crashing backwards as Unit Two was ripped free by the still retracting Cable, now surfacing much faster without the Angels mass in the way, the distance between them opening as Asuka focused her AT field into the most powerful flat barrier possible-

Just as the cargo of N2 mines obeying the instructions relayed via Unit Two's combat communications system, reached their time limit and detonated, the sixteen warheads each initiating _inside_the Angels AT field at a nominal yield of one hundred and fifty kilotons.

The explosion was actually quite well contained by the Angel, for the fraction of a second it continued to exist, but the shockwave blasted out, hitting Unit Two's fully extended 'AT Shield' and pushing it along.

Straight up.

Unit Two broke the water as if shot from cannon, the jolt kicking Shinji back into groggy consciousness as a gigantic waterspout from the detonation marked the funeral pyre of _Wisconsin_ and _Missouri_. A scarlet figure hung a thousand feet above the scene for a second, before falling towards the flight deck of the carrier, a quick thinking Asuka firing off her integrated thrusters, Unit Two rocking hard with the incredible amount of kinetic energy being spent in the deceleration as Asuka brought her unit in for a perfect landing, her feet only lightly toughing the deck before the unit fell to its knees, then to its face as it powered down, the enormous water spout behind it making a fitting final shot for Kensuke's film.

* * *

"My my my!" Doctor Ritsuko Akagi said in appreciation as the jeep she was riding in moved down the dock next to _Over the Rainbow_, the scars along her port flank a mute testament to the battle that had raged on what had supposed to be a simple 'meet and greet' mission for the Captain next to her. "You don't pull any punches do you?"

"I got careless" her companion, the Director of Operations moaned, leaning back in the late afternoon sunshine and enjoying the breeze that helped wash away her fatigue. "I should have had Unit Two loaded onto that Freighter rigged for underwater combat as a matter of course".

"You're apologizing? Are you feeling okay_?"_Agagi smirked.

"Oh don't be insulting" Misato snapped back, her eyes still closed. "At least we picked up a lot of new data".

"So I see" Ritsuko agreed, ignoring the raw data on the Angel for now in favor of the pilot data…stopping dead as she looked over the numbers. "Misato…"

"Humph?"

"This really _is_ important data"

* * *

Shinji followed Asuka down the side of the ship to where she was waiting impatiently for the 'gangplank' to be connected, congratulating himself for having the presence of mind this time to put his jacket inside Asuka's waterproof bag along with her clothes, which the Second Child had dumped into a small cargo area at the rear of the entry plug. He pulled the jacket tightly over the plug suit, nothing with pleasure that it really did fit quite well as it was designed to, zipping it up to hide the rather embarrassing 'cups' on his chest where Asuka's…assets…were designed to be lifted and supported.

"So" Shinji said from behind her, trying to make conversation. "Welcome back to Japan".

"Welcome back?" she asked, turning to glance at him in slight confusion. "I've never been to Japan before, Baka".

"Actually you have" he corrected her. "When you were two".

"I did?"

"Yes" he nodded, debating the course he was about to take, knowing how spectacularly this could go wrong if he screwed it up…and reflecting that it really _was_a long, long drop to the dockside from the edge of the flight deck. "Your Mother brought you over while she was working on the Evangelion project with…my Mother" he said, sensing her tense up at the subject of her mother, but pressing on. "You and I were, uh, put together in the same playpen while they talked".

"And?" she asked in a slightly sharp tone as she sensed his hesitation.

Shinji let a slight, if rueful smile come across his face.

"You apparently stole one of my toys when they weren't watching, then when I tried to get it back you continually hit me over the head with it until I ran away crying and my Mother pulled me out of the playpen".

Asuka stared at him for several long, long seconds.

It started as a low level snicker, but it rapidly escalated into a chuckle, then an earth shaking peal of laughter that caused tears to flow from her eyes as she gasped for air, leaning back against the flight deck as she struggled to helplessly to control herself at the idea that even at the precocious age of Two, she was beating up on her rival successfully.

"That's…that's…" she gasped for air desperately.

"Disturbing" Shinji supplied.

"Brilliant!" she countered wiping away the tears as she desperately worked to regain her composure, the spasms of laughter slowly dying as she took deep breaths, snickering until she was back under control. "So, Baka; are you going to run and hide behind mummy again with _me_ here?"

_Bingo._

"My Mother is dead Asuka" he said shortly, causing the smile on her face to fall away, like her muscles were slowly being drained from her face. "She died when I was Four in an…incident, with Unit One".

Asuka, a tone of genuine shock and regret in her voice stepped closer.

"I'm…I'm sorry" she said softly, Shinji glancing across at her read every emotion that passed across her face.

Shock at the revelation.

Anger at herself for being so stupid.

Pain as her own memories resonated…

And an almost macabre fascination at how disturbingly similar her story was to his at first glance.

_The only question left is will she-_

"What…what happened?" she asked in a voice so soft Shinji barley heard her, despite the fact that she was now standing right next to him.

He didn't turn but after a pause of a few seconds, he slowly told her everything.

Well almost everything; it wasn't exactly time to let her know his mother had _chosen _this fate. He continued with a twitch on his face as he recounted a few months ago when he had confronted his Father with his memories, probably the only genuine emotion he showed as he tried to push his way through the first of Asuka's multi layered defenses.

Asuka stood there and listened, frozen into something approaching shock at his story, her eyes wide and open in a way he had almost never seen them as he finished.

"Shinji…I….I" she slowly said, glancing down and to the side as she fought inside over what she could say as she felt…_what?_

_Not sympathy _she knew as she studied the strange sensation as she looked into Shinji's distant eyes.

No. It was _empathy. _

He smiled ever so slightly. Somehow, she felt as if he was gazing through her eyes and reading her very soul, as if every secret she had was open to him. He reached up his hand gently to ease a lock of her hair back into place behind her ear in a way she would _never_ have let him do even two minutes ago, but found she strangely didn't mind as she tried desperately to think of something to say. For the first time in her life, she felt a willingness, even a _desire_to talk to someone of her own wrenching loss and the deep, dark feelings that still surfaced in the darkest depths of night, alone in her room as she woke up hugging herself and desperately trying not to cry…

But almost as if he _knew, _he just stood, shaking his head slightly.

"It's okay Asuka. You didn't know, you _couldn't_ have known. Come on, lets get out of here" he said, easing past her to jump lightly up to the gangplank and head down to the docks.

Asuka took a long, deep breath as he leapt up, dashing away the flood of emotions that Shinji's effortless penetration of the barriers she had erected had brought up. His story of how he had lost his mother was so similar, the skeptical, College educated part of her mind immediacy denied the possibility of a pure coincidence, but she simply didn't know what to think…except that perhaps Shinji Ikari might not be the stuck up, show off jerk she had thought he was…

Shaking her head, she jumped up onto the Gang Plank and walked down to stand next to him, forcing her usual cocky smile onto her face.

Shinji felt Asuka follow him onto the gangplank, standing far closer to him then he had expected she would as they rode in silence down to the docks. He had seen the turbulent emotions in her eyes, guessing she had been on the verge of sharing her own horrible past but he had stopped her before she could do anything she could regret later.

She had to choose for herself if he deserved that level of trust and not in the heat of the moment. He knew better then anyone…perhaps even Asuka herself, just how painful those memories were. And the last thing he wanted to do; was to hurt her. She had had more then enough pain in her life already.

* * *

"They broke their synchronization records didn't they?"

"Well…yes and no" Ritsuko said, studying the record. It was a relatively simple graph with two lines representing Synch levels across time, with key events in the battle highlighted. "Asuka for exactly six seconds actually reached a ratio of One Hundred".

"Really?" Misato said, opening her eyes in surprise at that, recalling what Rits had said about the difficulty of that.

"That might just be stress and focusing so intently on such a limited objective and she couldn't sustain it…but at the exact same time, Shinji's crashed to zero and he _lost_ synchronization".

"That's odd" Misato said in a tone that clearly suggested she didn't really care.

"Very" Akagi agreed, scratching her head at the bizarre data, sighing at Shinji for giving her yet another mystery, before she glanced up at Misato, wondering at the scowl on her face. "So why are you in such a bad mood?" Misato grunted, then started to explain.

Twenty seconds later, Doctor Akagi was laughing harder then she had for a_very_ long time.

The reason for that bad mood was currently standing in front of a simple stone marker in Tokyo-3 cemetery number one, having completed his delivery to Gendo Ikari half an hour ago. Adam, his 'buy in' to the game accepted with a cold smile by NERV's Commander as they both looked at the tiny sample inside the dura-bakelite, alive but contained before he had taken his leave, heading out of the city after taking great pains to shake anyone who might have followed him, purchasing a bouquet of blowers on the way.

Entering the cemetery, just one person among dozens visiting a grave with flowers in their hands, he had 'borrowed' one of the ground keeper's small trowels smoothly and headed down after a quick glance at the written directory, wondering if at some point in the future his name would be written into this book…or one of the Children.

Although his perfect poker face had never shown it, he had felt his heart freeze as he had listened in on the fleet tactical channel as the Angel had flailed about at the task force while they flew away, the Angel's image on his screen relayed over the Battle Net so perfectly matching Shinji's description that it had actually shaken him. He had swallowed as Unit Two had gone overboard, listened to Misato's typically insane plan, closed his eyes and slowly exhaled as the Angel had been vaporized, watching Unit Two surviving to land on the Carrier with two children, one apparently boastful and one shaken, being helped out by the deck crew a few minutes later.

Now as he stopped in front of the 'grave' of one of those children's mothers, he casually made a final check around to ensure no-one was watching him too closely before he knelt down in the dirt and probed carefully. He had to go down a good hand span before he hit it, carefully removing the dirty plastic box before planting his bouquet of flowers into the crater and packing the dirt back down around it, the grave soon looking like dozens of others.

Smoothly, he rose up and left the cemetery, getting back into his car and having a look around to ensure no-one was watching before he pulled out the dirt encrusted container and broke the seal, retrieving the clean plastic bag from inside.

His hands were shaking slightly as he looked over the exact same necklace he had seen on Misato only hours ago, knowing right then and there it_was_ the same necklace, the tinniest imperfections along it standing out with instant familiarity to his eyes. Either someone had spent an_extraordinary_ amount of resources to perfectly duplicate Misato's necklace in one of the craziest plots in the history of the intelligence game…or…

_I'll have to get a DNA test, check this for fingerprints and other forensics…but I just know…God in heaven…I _know_ he's telling the truth._

He placed the bag into his attaché case, handling the necklace as carefully as if it were forensic evidence in a criminal investigation as he pulled out his secure cell phone, which had the latest encryption that even the MAGI would find damn hard to crack, ringing a number he had never rung before.

It was picked up after three rings.

"03 8734 8842"

"Oh. I'm sorry, I was trying to reach 03 8734 8852"

There was a long, significant, silence on the other end.

"Oh, that's perfectly alright" the voice said in a tone that suggested this was not the case.

"My apologies" Kaji said, before hanging up, tossing his phone onto the seat and kicking his car into gear, turning out of the cemetery onto the Tokyo – 3 / Tokyo – 2 highway and gunning his engine.

In a safe house in Kyoto, a women who had been sitting down to a nice quiet evening exhaled in surprise and made her own 'mistaken' phone call using a 'clean' prepaid cell phone that she then carefully stripped, wiped and destroyed. The person who received her call noted the number she had expected to reach before hanging up and making an internal building call to the deputy chairman of the Japanese Defense Agency.

* * *

Well another chapter just came from nowhere. I had written about half of it, then I took a break from Derelict after hitting writers block, trying to juggle about a zillion plot threads going on at the same time after getting to a little over 10,000 words on the next chapter.

So I opened this up and just started typing...and my muse just blasted me for about six hours straight. shrugs When it hits you, it hits you!


	10. Israfel

This didn't take as long as I had feared.

Well today is/was my Birthday and after getting slightly drunk with some friends, I've come back to upload all of this.  
This chapter has an Angel engagement, but its main purpose is to set up some new players and change some stuff around for future events.  
I've gotten a few emails claiming that the Angel engagements are really too small and short and I can accept that, they really form the backdrop to this story rather then the driving force, at least so far.

But they will serve as key pivot points in some ways, _especially _the 12th, 15th and 16th. And of course, the 17th, duh.  
Well and Zereul, the 14th, mostly because he is a bad ass mutha who don't take no crap from nobody and likes beating up on Evas.

Characters are probably starting to change a little fast now, but well, time is getting on and things are going to start changing.  
Oh and as a slight side note, we get to view a Calender in 'Both of you Dance..." which puts this Angels attack either in September or December.  
My view is that this takes place in September, then we reach the new year around about the time of Bardiel / Zeruel, with Tabris arriving around about March, given the rough amount of time suggested as taking place between some of the Angels showing up, time to repair/construct Evas, Shinji vanishing into LCL for a while, other events and so on...

It might not be entirely canon, but well, screw it :)

* * *

The rise of the post Second Impact United Nations had shifted the world stage of power dramatically. Some of these changes were never seen by the people the UN purported to represent, such as the resources directed to and the growing influence of GEHERN then NERV - let alone SEELE itself of course. Others changes _were_ rather plain to see and hotly debated, such as the formation of the United Nations Combined Military Forces.

The UNCMF was the ultimate outcome of loosing half the world's population to the Second Impact and post Second Impact wars. Most of humanity hadn't really given a damn about longer term issues such as conflicts of authority between the UN Government and the existing powers; they were simply happy to see the world stand down from the brink of an all out no holds bared nuclear exchange. This feeling had only increased when the UN, in stark contrast to its pre Second Impact slothfulness, had rapidly and efficiently redirected resources, expertise, and personnel in a global manner to start rebuilding, saving countless millions of peoples lives.

These positive outcomes didn't mean however, that the –surviving- major nations didn't have 'issues' with the extreme shifts of power. Over 70 of the standing military forces of the world were to be integrated into the combined UN military, answerable directly to the UN chain of command over their own Governments in an attempt to keep any one nation from getting any stupid ideas when faced with the threat of massive, unified retaliation.

With that said, this new force wasn't a major threat to the world. The simple fact was that it was unlikely in the extreme the UNCMF would be deployed against a nation whose own troops made up key components of the force, even more so if you looked at just how _difficult_ it was to legally authorize the use of force. Really, when you got down to it, the 'UN military' was just a way to _tie up _the major striking power of the world and keep it out of everyone's hands, equally. By treaty, all nations were allowed to keep their own limited defensive forces, such as the USMC or JSSDF…but with overt force no longer much of an option, much of the ability to manipulate foreign policy once again returned to the domain of Intelligence Services.

Which was why SEELE had been careful to compromise as many of the worlds intelligence services as possible of course having, correctly, predicted that Governments would attempt to infiltrate NERV after the Evangelion project had become known to them.

And so_ what _if some agency worked their way through _one hundred and eight_different front companies and found out that the Marduk Institute was nothing more then a front for NERV itself? That would only lead to dozens more questions about '_why'_, setting off a whole new cycle of investigations that would go nowhere.

_So what _if they found out that the Angels return had been anticipated by NERV? That would only justify every _cent_ spent on developing the Evangelion technology to _fight_ them in the first place, further reinforcing the perception that Evangelion was strictly an anti Angel technology.

So _what_ if Governments didn't entirely trust NERV, despite their UN mandate, the huge leaps in technology NERV/GEHERN had produced and the massive economic benefits that had come directly and indirectly from their operations around the world? The fact was that the Angels were a mortal threat to humankind who _had _to be stopped and NERV was the only organization who could do so, something that had become even clearer with the pathetic UN and JSSDF attacks against the Third Angel.

And when you got down to it, even _with _the Evangelions _what_ could a hostile NERV possibly hope to accomplish against the world?

The answer to that, only the SEELE council and perhaps a handful of high level people in NERV knew…which was the problem.

SEELE wasn'tan evil organization of bad guys with well dressed henchmen and a secret mountain base to infiltrate, computers to hack or phones to tap. It was a true cell of networked individuals spread throughout NERV, the UN and other major power structures; a parasite clinging to those hosts and diverting resources to its own ends. The core 'Instrumentality Committee' operated under the public goal of 'artificially evolving humanity through science to better suit its environment', a broad statement of nonsense that no-one took seriously…but no-one was able to disprove either.

_Hiding their true goals in plain sight, how clever of them _Major General Shigeru Ishiba, the Director of the Japanese Defense Agency (Intelligence) thought to himself as he studied Ryoji Kaji from across the table, working to absorb the titanic shift in his world that had just been delivered.

Shigeru Ishiba had fallen into his position at the top of the Japanese Governments intelligence arm through rather unusual chain of events that had started back in 2007 after NERV had been formed. The Japanese Government, increasingly wary of GEHERN and now NERV had decided they wanted to look more deeply into the project, directing the JDA to set up a secret long term task force to investigate NERV from top to bottom. The taskforce however had gotten precisely nowhere, primarily because the Japanese Intelligence service had been long compromised by SEELE to make sure the Japanese Government 'knew' NERV was a harmless organization, firmly under the control of the UN. In fact, the Chairman of JDA Intelligence, Yamada Tarō himself was a SEELE mole…and he wasn't the only one. Tarō had built up an internal network of traitors in the JDA over the years -with SEELE's help of course, most of who were attached to the NERV task force. It would have probably been amusing from an external perspective; 'turned' JDA personnel ordering their subordinates to penetrate the organization _they_ secretly worked for.

Of course, the lower level people often succeeded to their credit, smugly turning or inserting people into the lower levels of the Second Branch of NERV in Hanoke –soon renamed Tokyo 3- or the UN, occasionally even turning a mid level officer on track for higher office and higher security clearances.

SEELE was promptly informed of these successes, but the aforementioned traitors were very rarely killed. Even disregarding the fact that the intelligence business was generally a polite, orderly society where shooting enemy agents was frowned upon -as it would start an endless cycle of reprisals, it was far more convenient for SEELE to simply incorporate these new traitors into the project; using them to 'officially' feed false information to the JDA, which then reported NERV _didn't_have an agenda beyond R&D of the Anti-Angel Evangelion project, and this 'SEELE' they occasionally heard whispers about was little more then the boogie man; a modern day Majestic Twelve or Illuminati.

Shigeru himself had been of that same perception until one Ryoji Kaji, an apparently 'do nothing' Section 2 agent from NERV's Third Branch in Germany had turned up one day at a sushi restaurant in Tokyo 2, flashed one of his trademark smiles and sat down next to the plain clothes General.

He had shown nothing either in his face or his body language beyond mild interest as the younger man had quietly and casually explained who he was, what his position was and the fact that he wanted to work for the Japanese Government…at least until the Section 2 officer had handed over a sheet of paper, which Shigeru had unfolded to read the name of _every single infiltrated agent and contact _the JDA taskforce had managed to insert, turn and run inside NERV and the UN.

But even more terrifying, was that on the other side of the page were the names of two dozen mid level bureaucrats inside the JDA, followed by a handful of senior people up to -and including- the director himself!

To say this had almost ended his world had been something of an understatement, but Shigeru had kept his composure as the unshaven man smiled, place his sunglasses back on his face and exited the restaurant, leaving behind only a card with a hotel room number written on it.

Shigeru Ishiba had taken the time to finish up his lunch as if nothing had happened, heading back to his office, anger and rage competing in his mind for predominance behind the bland mask on his face, telling his secretary to hold all his calls as he had sat down to think this all through.

Unlike his apparently traitorous boss, Shigeru hadcome up through the ranks of the military, then civilian Intelligence divisions and was well trained in both tradecraft higher level strategic issues. His post of Deputy Director effectively made him the 'boss' of ongoing operations, leaving the major strategic and political decisions to his superior. It meant he technically didn't have any real _authority_ to start the kind of sweeping Counter-Intelligence investigation that would be needed to clean up this situation…but when you got right down to it, _he _ran the place.

His first considered act was to destroy the piece of paper Kaji had supplied after memorizing the names of the compromised JDA personnel. He had an excellent memory –a useful trait for a spymaster- and he spent the next few hours moving through the list in his head as he tried to recall everything about those people; specifically how SEELE and NERV might have either persuaded –or forced- them into becoming double agents.

It hadn't taken long.

The director himself, a former JSDF General had been rumored to have been involved in some very dark criminal activity back in the years following the Second Impact. He wasn't really _alone_ in that of course, Shigeru remembered the chaos of those years well. But the whispers never repeated outside of JDA Intel were that the director had gone even further, using his JSDF command to both enforce and cover up his highly illegal dealings. His career move into the JDA High Command provided ample resources to tie up the loose ends of his dealings with the Yakuza and Zaibatsu…but he had a feeling SEELE had gotten their hands on the proof and threatened to expose him, unless he agreed to keep things on the 'up and up' on their behalf.

The head of Counter-Intelligence, hadn't she just brought that new sports car a few months back? A suspiciously flashy purchase for someone who had a family to feed, kids to put through school, more or less lived week to week as far as he recalled…

Several suspects in the operations department he saw had applied for several weeks' vacation throughout the last six years. Of course, that wasn't necessarily strange compared to other people in their departments…the fact however that every one of these vacations had been to Europe or US where they had stayed in five star hotels, was.

In fact, he could find some _very _odd issues with _all_ of the personnel on Kaji's list that stuck out like a sore thumb, with only a few hours work. It was utterly amazing that it had all gone unnoticed, but then again as the aforementioned list included the Chairman, Director of Counter Intelligence/Internal Security, several people in the financial department, several people in the small internal investigation arm, which Shigeru darkly remembered had been cut several times due to 'budget constraints' at the behest of the Chairman over the last few years…

The only conclusion he could reach after several hours work was that SEELE had utterly compromised the JDA…and they had done so well in advance of any Government investigations. He was playing almost a decade's worth of catch-up now. The bastards had used the JDA to root out turncoats and traitors in NERV, then make them a part of their _own_ plans, sending back false data which the JDA then honestly reported to the Japanese Government.

Professionally and dispassionately, Shigeru had to admire the shear balls of the operation.

Of course, it didn't appear that they had counted on someone 'in the know' about this whole scheme to betray them.

Which begged the question; _why _had Kaji done this?

There was the possibility that this was just _another_ play by SEELE, but Shigeru couldn't see the angle. Unless they were expecting him to denounce everyone without proof, get fired and let one of their pawns move into his job…but the evidence he had been shown today put paid to the idea that SEELE were anything like_ that_ stupid.

The second possibility was that this was all some kind of strange internal loyalty test on_him_. But it was unlikely, there was no way the JDA would risk a deep cover agent like Kaji –assuming he _was _working on the side for JDA- just to test one of their own personnel. And frankly, Shigeru was utterly loyal to his job and his country, had made very few enemies by generally staying _out _of the political side of things, so he dismissed that theory.

Which left the possibility that he had a genuine 'walk in'.

Deciding there was nothing to be lost by pursuing this, he had gotten back to work – there _was _more to the Intelligence world and his Job then SEELE and NERV after all- then 'borrowed' some equipment from the technical department before he headed home. He had changed before heading back onto the town through a long roundabout and confusing route, using every technique he knew to detect and shake a tail, before parking his car, taking a train, then a taxi and only _then_heading through a pair of shopping centers linked underground into the Hilton Hotel and up to the sixth floor.

Kaji had been waiting inside, understandably more then a little nervous, but they both professionally swept each others equipment, then each other, then the hotel room for any unwelcome electronics, before mutually activating tiny white noise devices that would play merry hell with any microphones they had missed, getting down to business for a long, frank talk.

Kaji had been agreeably direct with his motives; he wanted to know the real truth behind NERV and its masters after he had become increasingly sure that SEELE, the people backing the Katsuragi expedition, had _deliberately _set off Armageddon and wiped out half of the human race. The good news Kaji had to report was that SEELE hadn't bothered to touch the political figures in Japan, correctly deeming them too unreliable.

Japan hadn't exactly had the most stable Governments post Second Impact, changing on a year to year basis that made it damn near impossible to find a politician to stick with and 'turn'. Add to that the fact that most Japanese politicians were _already _brought and paid for, be it by the Zaibatsu or the Yakuza – or both- so they had contented themselves with controlling the _flow_ of information to the Government instead.

Shigeru had decided not to bother them either - at least not immediately and without hard evidence. Instead, he used his post of Deputy Director to carefully build his 'own' network of people inside the JDA, mostly experienced field officers and controllers; people he had worked with and he knew he could trust, who in turn formed their own elite teams of people _they _knew they could trust. Gathering the evidence against the traitors however, had proven almost painfully easy as few of them were actually trained in field craft.Oh sure they_used _dead drops, secret signals, brush passes and so on, but in the most amateurish ways that had the surveillance teams moaning in despair at how badly the reputation of the JDA was suffering at their hands…even if they _were _technically traitors.

It was a matter of professional pride after all.

But the upside was that it had only taken six months to gather rather unimpeachable evidence against all of them, as well as their agreeably small cell of SEELE 'handlers' who _were _professionals, but far too confident in the fact that they had the JDA Counter-Intelligence network neutralized and took stupid risks and made sloppy mistakes.

So much the better of course.

By a lucky twist of fate, a new Government had been elected to power shortly before Kaji had come forward and, surprisingly, it was holding together as the world slowly regained a measure of stability. Shigeru had finally decided the time was right and, quietly, slipped into the house of the Defense minister one night, a no nonsense ex-cop who utterly_despised_ corruption. And after almost giving the minister a heart attack, Shigeru had presented his evidence.

The response had been swift. The Defense minister, then the Prime Ministers first instincts had been understandable; arrest the traitors, seize NERV Central and take it apart brick by brick until they figured out what was going on. Shigeru however had quickly brought them around to his own way of thinking, an idea that would also have the bonus of avoiding a major international incident.

After all, exposing a ring of double agents was nothing more then the necessary pre-requisite to create a ring of _triple _agents.

The next day, he had given orders to move everything into phase two, 'his' people taking all the traitors aside to have a chat over a long weekend.

The majority of the turncoats had simply been greedy fools, selling out their nation for a new car, boat or trip to a tropical island their wives probably wouldn't have approved of. The JDA took the simplest solution to them, telling them they could keep the money SEELE was paying them, so long as they agreed to work for the JDA…for real this time. As long as they followed their new instructions, everything would go just fine. But, if they tried in any way to _warn _SEELE, they would find themselves locked up in a run down prison on the Siberian / Chinese border Japan rented for almost nothing from the PRC, for the rest of their miserable lives.

To a person, this group of 'lower level' traitors agreed lots of money was better then freezing slowly and were released back 'into the wild' under a close watch.

Most of the higher ups who had been blackmailed into working for SEELE were offered the ultimate deal; a full immunity for any past crimes committed –sealed in their file until all of this was over- if they turned against their masters. Again, the majority of this group was all too happy to do so, having found themselves in an impossible position. They were not _truly _disloyal, at least in their own minds…just utterly terrified and without a shred of moral fiber in their bodies to do the right thing, regardless of personal consequences.

However a small minority _had_ proven more difficult.

It had turned out that the Director of Internal Security was something of a true believer in SEELEs plans, whatever they might be, and had said nothing for the two days she was held despite all kinds of dire threats being directed against her. Too high profile a figure to have 'vanish' without a trace for a more 'rigorous' debriefing until they broke her, she had been ruthlessly killed in a tragic car crash the next day, her body paraded carefully past numerous SEELE moles, then given a splendid public cremation, allowing one of her underlings, a SEELE spy now working for the JDA, to be moved up into her position.

SEELE hadn't really cared, simply paying her replacement more money to do his new job for them. The unexpected did happen after all, even in the most carefully laid plans.

The last person Shigeru had had to deal with, personally, had been the Chairman. He had been similarly reluctant to betray his masters, but after the pointed example of the Counter Intelligence chief, he had decided that early retirement to a nice comfortable villa at the Northern end of Honshu wasn't such a bad idea.

He apparently did enjoy it according to all reports, even though it amounted to little more then a luxurious prison, 'his staff' watching him 24/7 and allowing almost no communication with the outside world.

Ultimately, by the start of the year 2014, newly promoted Major General Shigeru Ishiba had completely cleaned house at the JDA _without_ cleaning house, no small feet. He had even cut 80 of the funding to the unit 'publicly' investigating NERV to SEELE's delight, reinforcing the perception that while the JDA didn't entirely _trust _the organization, all their evidence conclusively suggested there was little to them a bunch of paranoid and half crazy scientists, who none the less had generated significant technological breakthroughs.

In reality the efforts againstNERV and their backers had only increased, but in a more subtle way. Abandoning the idea of large scale infiltration, JDA instead had turned their forensic accountants loose, focusing their efforts on following the money, identifying where the resources were going, monitoring communications between higher ups, trying to identify the higher members of SEELE and keep tabs on them, while Ryoji worked on the other side, promoted to Section 2 Bravo, 'Special Investigations'.

But progress was slow.

Oh they gained a great deal of low level information, but slowly it became clear that the true motives of SEELE were simply impossible to get at, not without getting to the council itself as frankly, only they knew the 'why' and the 'what'.

So, JDA had switched focus to one Gendo Ikari.

Their investigations_had _uncovered that there was some kind of friction between SEELE and their point man at Central. As far as Kaji had understood and explained it, the goals of SEELE and Gendo meshed well until some undetermined point in the future, at which point…things would probably happen.

Both sides _pretended_ it wasn't the case, but both sides _knew_ the truth and were constantly maneuvering for position even as they worked together closely on what they needed to cooperate on.

Kaji, a 'known' SEELE agent had approached Gendo with an offer of an alliance against them…for a price of course. Gendo, being no-ones fool, had demanded proof of his fidelity, which Kaji had delivered yesterday. Shigeru had given grudging approval for the operation to steal Adam from NERV Germany and it had gone off without a hitch, SEELE unaware the sample in the Third Branch was now only a plastic mockup inside Dura-Bakalite, the real First Angel now in a cryogenic vault deep in Central Dogma.

If they ever found out what Kaji had done however…

"So" Shigeru said after the silence had become heavy. "To summarize this…information; the Angels ultimate goal is to initiate a Third Impact, to 'evolve' artificially to the next stage in their evolution at the cost of wiping out the human race".

"Correct".

"And SEELE are also looking to artificially evolve humankind to what they consider the next stage of human existence through their _own_ Third Impact, a single perfect being suspended in some kind of primordial soup?"

"You got it".

"And this is the ultimate purpose of the Evangelion project, especially Unit One which is not engineered from Adam's genetic material, but from the second Angels?"

"Three for three Boss".

"Oh yes, and the aforementioned Second Angel was _not _found dead at the South Pole as GEHERN reported, but is sitting deep in NERV Centrals Terminal Dogma…and the entire Geofront in fact is apparently this…Liliths 'egg'?"

"You're taking this rather well" Kaji pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

"No, this all makes perfect sense. You see, when I was on my way here, I saw this rabbit step out of a building carrying a pocket watch and asking me to follow him down a hole. So I stupidly decided to have a look" Shigeru said with a roll of his eyes that still retained a glint of humor as he took a sip of water. "First impressions?"

"He's on the level" Kaji said simply.

"That's a very strong vote of support" Shigeru responded, leaning back in his chair.

"I know and I don't make it lightly…but I've told you what he told me…what he knew. Either SEELE have utterly compromised Operation Wallpaper if he is under their control, or, he really _has _traveled back in time".

"It's possible he represents a third faction in this game" the General speculated, enjoying playing devils advocate for a while. "Or perhaps this is a play from Gendo himself, to see how you would react".

There was a hint of accusation in that voice, Kaji noted. He _had _broken almost every rule in the book by screaming up to Tokyo-2 and asking for a face to face meeting after just getting feet dry in Japan. Oh he had been careful to ensure he neither had any tracking devices on his person, or that that he had been followed, but it was still a very poor habit to get into for a covert agent.

"It's not impossible" Kaji admitted honestly, after reflecting on the possibility. "But all our evidence suggests that neither SEELE nor Gendo have anything like the knowledge of the Angels Shinji did. Our best evidence suggests they have some kind of scenario developed from the complete Dead Sea Scrolls, giving them little more then a timeline. Add to that what he knew about…my…background, that I have _not _told either SEELE or Gendo and wasn't recorded, anywhere…"

Shigeru grunted.

"Well, the truth Ryoji is that this story answers a great many questions we've had about Shinji".

"Oh?" Kaji inquired in interest. Hehadn't been informed of any investigation of the Third Child, but there _was _such a thing as 'need to know' after all.

"Consider. We've kept a loose eye on Shinji as you might expect, given whom his Father is. But all our reports suggested he was an emotionally fragile boy, introverted, lacking confidence and deathly afraid of his Father. Yet according to our reports, he stood _up _to his Father in public without hesitation or fear, has extorted a rather generous retainer from him for his services _and_ he has been working hard to reach out to older, senior people in the organization. This is _not_the same Shinji Ikari in our file. Now, add to that his astonishing skill in his combat debut which NERV officially put down to the unit 'Going Berserk', a very _strange_ out of control Evangelion that puts down the hostile with almost no collateral damage _and_ protects some other kids who were in the area…"

Kaji nodded. Even the distant Third Branch had been buzzing with the news about Shinji's first combat performance, then his second and third battles, showing a coolness and skill that no-one had ever expected from someone with only very limited training.

It had been the choice topic around the water cooler for weeks in fact.

"But his skill in combat makes sense, if you allow that he has extensive 'real life' combat experience against these same Angels before and knew _exactly_ what they could do".

"Precisely" Shigeru nodded. "And he was kind enough to bring back a degree of proof, which I am expecting the analysis back about…ah" he smiled as a soft knock came from the door behind them. "Come"

The door slid open to reveal a casually dressed middle aged Japanese man whose name Shigeru knew was Chion Yamada, as everyone else at the JDA did, but called 'Q' after the infamous James Bond character, a nickname the Agent had picked up then worn like a badge of honor for his entire career. His formal position was that of senior analysis and forensic specialist, a trusted 'insider' who had been told to drop everything and dissect the cross Kaji had brought with him. "Q you have a report?"

"Hai" Chion nodded, pulling out a crème folder and passing a thin riff of stapled A4 sheets across to first the Director, then passing another to Kaji. "It is all in this report Sir, but the short answer is that cross is the real deal".

The two intelligence officers exchanged a look at that.

"Go on".

"The blood on the necklace is a positive ID for Captain Misato Katsuragi, at least for the genetic file in her UN records which, before you ask, my computer people assure me has not been tampered with since it was created in 2000. The pendent also had trace samples of blood that was _not_hers. We sampled it as per your orders against personnel of the third JSSDF division and got a match" he said, handing over another sheet of paper. "Specialist Kaikou Nishimura".

The two men looked into the eyes of a man who, according to Shinji, would gladly gun down an unarmed 14 year old kid with a chuckle and a smile…

"The necklace was also coated with trace amounts of gunpowder residue, consistent with point four zero Smith and Western cartridges, which matches the USP the Captain carries as her personal side arm. Also, the splatter pattern suggests a close range-"

"We get the picture" Shigeru broke in, flicking the personnel page onto the glossy black surface of the table in front of him. "But so far none of this is necessarily impossible to recreate and fake, just difficult".

"That is because I have not got to the best part, Sir" the agent smiled tolerantly. "You see, the cross was heavily irradiated".

"What?!" Kaji and Shigeru demanded, sitting up straight in their chairs and looking slightly alarmed both having handled the bag before passing it off.

"Nothing harmful" Chion added, drawing a relieved but un-amused look from his boss. "As you may know, it was discovered shortly after Second Impact that anything within a five hundred kilometer diameter of ground Zero had been irradiated by an exotic new type of radiation never before seen. Harmless to humans and with a _very_ long decay-"

"Yes, I've read NERV's reports on it" Kaji broke in. "Something about how the level of radiation fell off at a perfectly constant rate the further you got from Ground Zero, regardless of all other factors that proved this wasn't a natural event".

"Indeed" Chion nodded. "The UN was lucky; very little physical evidence was recovered from the area, so few people know about the radiation. But the distance from ground zero defines the radiation level; _this_pendant has _exactly _the same radiation level as was recorded on the clothing and body of Misato Katsuragi fifteen years ago. Which means it was, to the decimeter, the _exact _same distance from the epicenter when it was irradiated as Katsuragi."

Chion paused to take a breath as his boss and Agent Ryoji exchanged a look, finding the next bit of his news still hard to believe, but he had run the test ten times and the results were not in doubt.

"In short gentlemen, this pendant has a clear decay pattern proving it was exposed to the Second Impact sixteen and a halfyears ago. _Not_ fifteen".

There was utter silence in the room for at least ten seconds.

"Is…there any chance of this radiation being artificially duplicated? Or that _this_cross was also there, perhaps further out and received a lesser 'dose' of radiation?"

"No" Chion said flatly. "All our reports suggest even NERV can't duplicate the radiation. I know CERN have been working on it for some time without success and _they_ have the best particle physics people in the world, not even NERV are in their league. And as for the second half of your question, well we can determine to within a micro-grey, what the _initial_ exposure was and I ran the test ten times".

Again, the group sat in silence, this time for twenty seconds.

"Well" Chion said after the silence became uncomfortable. "I think we have little choice but to proceed on the assumption that Shinji is telling the truth" was about all the General could say in reply to that, after pausing for twenty long seconds in thought. "Do you have anything else for us?"

"It is all in my report Sir".

"Then you are dismissed".

Chion bowed, which Shigeru acknowledged with a polite nod, the lab technician backing quietly out of the room and closing the door behind him.

There was another long, long minute of silence between Kaji.

"Now you know how I felt yesterday Boss" Kaji finally commented, trying not to smile at the look on Shigeru's face,.

"How long does it take to go away?" Kaji shrugged.

"About four and a half hours at the bar, I'd guess closer to six drinking alone".

"Noted" Shigeru commented, leaning forward and flipping through his notes as he tried to ignore the fact that his hands suddenly felt numb. "Well, suffice to say, we need to get Shinji professionally debriefed, ASAP".

"It'll be very difficult to get him away long enough without being detected" Kaji commented with a raised eyebrow. "NERV keeps a very tight watch on the pilots for obvious reasons. Even as Asuka's guardian and a member of Section Two, I was always tailed by at least two agents in Germany whenever I took her out.

"I know" Shigeru admitted. "But he approached us, no I'm sorry, Shinji approached_you. _Clearly he trusts you in looking for help to stop this…_insanity_ from ever happening. I'm sure that you could arrange for a day doing 'guy stuff', and we could arrange to loose your shadows at an appropriate moment".

"Well it beats having to take Asuka shopping again" Kaji muttered under his breath, getting a snort of genuine laughter at his discomfort from Shigeru.

Kaji really _did_ love Asuka like the daughter he never had, but the way she hung off his arm and flirted with him in public was getting increasingly uncomfortable…even more so with the rate her hormones were increasingly firing off these days, with the risk of turning a harmless crush into something rather more dangerous…

"We've set up a series of new Safe Houses in Tokyo-3" the General continued, breaking into Kaji's thoughts as he handed over a card with several addresses on its back. "The local JDA Intel group isn't aware of them. I'll have Koga and his team on standby, as soon as you can work out a day, we'll move him down".

Kaji studied the card, memorized the writing on the back, then flicked it into the nearby fireplace to be consumed. Koga was probably the best damn interrogator in the entire JDA; he had cracked the former Chairman and 'flipped' everyone else working for SEELE when on their case.

Behind his back, everyone called him 'The Warlock'.

He had a frightening ability to see right through lies and deception faster and more accurately then any lie detector invented to date. During his day long interviews with subjects, he maintained a calm, polite and downright friendly attitude, sadly pointing out falsehoods when necessary and gently, almost regretfully pointing out when people were lying through their teeth to him as he slowly broke them down. Combined with an almost perfect memory, he was just as skilled as an analyst behind a desk, so much so in fact that he had become too valuable to let out into the field…which said much about how seriously the General was taking this.

It wasn't the beginning of the end of SEELE or Gendo Ikari, Kaji knew in a moment of dispassionate analysis. It wasn't time to move against them yet, especially as the Angels were the primary thereat humanity had to band together against.

But that was fine. Let NERV and SEELE place their money into the pot and wonder at the strength of each others hands…

JDA will soon have already seen most of their cards.

"From this point on" Shigeru continued, Shinji's codename is...Balcony" the General declared. As a matter of course, he pulled codenames randomly from objects around him as needed, which had utterly nothing to do with the 'compartment' in question. It was a basic security procedure to isolate an agent from the information they produced. After all, information was often laundered –relatively- far and wide inside the intelligence services and a codename might be all that stood between an undiscovered mole and a valuable source. "Right now, only five people really know about this. We'll keep it that way for now, but bring in Koka when needed. Anyone else gets a full background and current Counter-Intelligence checkup, the works, before they get in. I don't _care_ how many times they've been checked before".

"What about the PM?" Kaji asked. Shigeru shook his head.

"He doesn't need to know yet. He can wait until we get some additional supporting evidence, after we've debriefed Balcony properly". The Director of JDA Intelligence now looked up. "And as for you, get the hell out of here and don't come back".

"It's nice to be loved" Kaji smirked, standing up and heading for the door, knowing his boss wasn't actually being rude, but both of them knowing he had already taken far too many chances in coming to him, even if he had had little choice.

And in their job, taking unnecessary chances appealed to them about as much as being sent to fight the last Angel in scuba gear with a harpoon.

* * *

"Asuka, Asuka Asuka! Have you been listening to all those kids?" Kensuke muttered to Toji shortly after another satisfied customer walked away from their small shop front, pocketing the considerable amount of money they had made off yet another sale. They –or more accurately Kensuke- had set up the business in a rarely visited part of the school grounds not that far from the main gate, well before the start of school. From this location they had a clear view of all the approaches, giving them time to hide the evidence before a Class Rep or a Teacher saw them, or in the worst case, dump the evidence down a nearby drain and quietly walk away. 

Sales had been brisk, even though Kensuke didn't have anything really saucy to offer the student body. For reasons only known to himself, Shinji had vetoed the idea of trying to take any pictures of the fiery exchange student inside the locker rooms, then flatly forbidden any attempt at 'up-skirt' or otherwise inappropriate shots.

Why precisely he was being so protective of the Red Haired Demon as Toji had christened the Second Child neither of his fiends knew, but they accepted the restrictions out of respect for their best friend…if not out of respect of the latest NERV alumni to move into their class.

"Well we're just lucky these shots don't reveal her personality" Toji responded to his friend's exasperated sigh over the craze Asuka had stirred up.

Both young men freely admitted she was hot, that simply wasn't in question. In a school of generally polite, reserved young Japanese girls, she was a living, breathing firestorm, an impression helped along by her red hair that whirled around her like a burning halo as she moved about the school at speed. Add to that her stunning looks _and _the fact that she publicly had announced –and Shinji had confirmed- that she was an Evangelion pilot…

Toji and Kensuke however, were not fooled for a second. They had seen the 'other' side of Asuka up close and personal, finding a curious historical parallel with the 'Sirens' they had learned about in Mythology class last week…but with a telephoto lens, they didn't _have _to get close.

* * *

_The irony that those two will end up spending more time with Asuka then any of her rapidly growing fan club…now _that's _the textbook _definition _of irony _Shinji smirked to himself as he entered the school gates and spotted his friends deep in the shadows running their brisk trade, easily guessing at the thoughts going through their head from their expressions. 

And if they had known the thoughts moving through Shinji's mind at that moment, Shinji frankly estimated there was an even-money chance they would have dragged him away and started an intervention to save him from himself.

"Hullo Shinji! Guten Morgen!"

The cheerful voice rang out across the area near the school gate, the kind of voice that the wind and waves would stop at once the listen to, a tone that simultaneously demanded and _expected_ instant attention to be paid to it…or else.

"Guten Morgen Asuka" Shinji replied with a somewhat shy, but very real smile on his face as he turned to face his fiery wingman. "Wie Geht Es Ihnen?"

"Wundervoll!" she smiled as she stepped up to him. "Ich wußte nicht, daß Sie Deutsches sprachen Shinji?"

"Uh, actually, I don't speak German" Shinji replied with a somewhat sheepish look, guessing the gist of her question from one or two key words. "I just learned a few words here and there after I heard you were coming over".

"Ah" she said, a slight smirk staining her smile as she stepped up next to him, ignoring the looks from the students around them. Mostly love struck stares from the guys and 'grinding of teeth' looks from the girls, the later directed evenly at the aforementioned boys who were ignoring _them _in favour of _her, _along with _her_, for stealing the boy's attention away from _them_. "Well, I appreciate the gesture Third Child, even if your accent is _atrocious_" Asuka said, throwing her hair back over her shoulder with a flick of her head. "Whoever taught _you_ German needs to take some lessons"

Shinji caught himself before replying '_You_ taught me', cursing the circumstances that prevented him from delivering snappy comebacks that were oh so perfect…

"I'll let her know" he said instead with a dry tone.

"Her?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow. "Misato?"

He must have imagined the slightly sharp tone in her voice at the word 'Her'…

"No it…wait, _Misato_ speaks German?" Shinji asked in genuine surprise. He couldn't_ever_ recall Misato speaking German around him, though come to think of it…

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka inquired with a roll of her eyes. "Misato was my guardian for a few years back home; she _joined _NERV at the Third Branch. It sure would have been rather _difficult_ if she couldn't speak the language, nicht denken Sie?"

"Oh I don't know" Shinij said, keeping an utterly straight face, unphased by Asuka's sharp look. "Just as long as she could say 'how long to Oktoberfest', everything would have worked out fine".

Asuka actually giggled at that, generating an envious look from the males around him at his ability to hold more then a three second conversation with Asuka. Finally however, the Second Child recalled what she had been thinking before spotting Shinji, looking around and ignoring the crowd as she searched for someone. "Say…the other one is here too, isn't she?"

"If by 'the other one' you mean Rei Ayanami…" Shinji let his voice trail off, his gaze flickering to the other side of the street. The school actually straddled a road thanks to its huge growth over the last few years, with much of the younger kids' classrooms on the opposite street and an escalator walkway connecting them. Right next to the escalator on the far side, Rei Ayanami sat calmly reading a small book, oblivious to the world around her. She had been out of class the last few days after Asuka had arrived, only just getting back this morning…

Asuka followed his gaze, smiled, then happily skipped off towards Rei, causing Shinji to shake his head slightly in amusement as 'the hoard' followed her off, more then a few shooting him envious looks.

Well, at least _this_ time he had been able to hopefully somewhat prepare Rei…

"You know Ikari, I didn't expect you to be the one to make a deal with the devil" Toji suddenly spoke up as he moved up next to Shinji with the retreat of Asuka. "What did she promise you? Money? Women? Precious jewels?"

"Eh?" Shinji asked in confusion.

"I mean you looked so happy then in _her_ presence and she…she _smiled _at you!" Kensuke pointed out in a betrayed tone.

"Ah. Asuka isn't so bad once you get past the daily beatings" Shinji smirked as he saw Asuka leap off the escalator into Rei's sunlight, her fanclub following down the escalator.

"Your funeral Ikari" Toji snorted, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he shook his head at the growing crowd at the bottom of the escalator. "You're the poor bastard who has to work with her after all".

_Laugh it up Forth Child_,Shinji thought back, watching as Asuka started to interrogate Rei, curious to see how this would go…

* * *

Rei Ayanami was reading. 

This was a typical activity for the First Child.

Without any real friends, she had spent most of her infrequent hours at school in study of one kind or another, seeing little reason to waste time doing nothing. In fact, to many Japanese parents she would have been the perfect child, able to dedicate her entire attention to academic pursuits at this critical age, with an IQ that registered easily at the genius level.

But things were…changing.

The critical revelation that she owned her own life and that the purpose of life was to _live it _as she chose had thrown an Eva sized wrench in Rei's day to day activities. While Rei was still perfectly capable of directing her entire attention into any one academic or Evangelion related activity at a moments notice, secretly she wished to _live _in the same way the people around her did. She read and studied mostly out of inertia as it was something she knew how to do, but behind her blank mask was a slowly growing desire to be up there right now, with the rest of the school, laughing and chatting away freely about what she thought were utterly irrelevant and trivial, but everyone appeared to hold in great value.

Friendship was a concept she was slowly starting to learn, beyond the textbook definitions she had studied and not entirely understood. Shinji professed feelings for her because _he_ found her unique and worth protecting. Rei did not quite see why this was so, but found she could accept _he _did, such was human emotion. Other classmates such as Classmates Suzuhara and Aida appeared, through Shinji, to be increasingly finding something similar in her to respect and she increasingly wished to find a way to return this; Shinji's suggestion that she would 'take' Aida to this upcoming dance sounded like an acceptable first step in that direction.

However…she still lacked friendships with any of the girls in her class…or any women at all for that matter. For all the textbooks suggesting the relationships between males and females was the most complicated and intricate, she was finding those few she had much easier to maintain then opening up to any of the girls in her age group.

For years she had ignored them, if not out of malice -though she didn't know if they understood this- and they had ignored her in return. The few interactions she had had were generally brief, and in the case of people like Classmate Tanaka, chilly. As much as she wanted to _try_ and participate in the whirlwind of emotion she perceived around her, Rei Ayanami II simply did not understand how to open up or where to start. After all, it was unlikely in the extreme that a female classmate would suddenly approach her without warning and-

"Hey! You must be Rei Ayanami, the pilot of the prototype. I'm Asuka! Asuka Langley Soryu. I'm the pilot of Eva Unit Two. Let's be good friends!"

On the other hand…

* * *

Doctor Ritsuko Akagi sighed slightly as she leaned back in her chair, wondering if Shinji Ikari had some kind of grudge against her, given that damn near every time he went into battle, she was left with more questions about him and the Evangelions then ever before. 

It took several minutes but she decided, grudgingly, that Shinji probably _wasn't _trying to make her life miserable. At least on purpose.

With that settled, she returned to her almost complete report on the 6th Angels engagement with Unit Two.

Shinji's sudden Synch Ratio collapse, simultaneous with Asuka's brief explosion to a perfect ratio for six seconds was strange to say the least, but yet again, all too convenient answers existed for her to draw conclusions from; specifically that Shinji had been rather 'aroused' by Asuka's overwhelming, smothering presence and had had been distracted to the point he couldn't concentrate with her body pressing against his.

Though this strange data on his neural channel just before he had been knocked unconscious…

Gendo of course had all but rolled his eyes at her when she had brought up her suspicions in front of him, telling her bluntly to stop wasting time on irrelevant data and get back to work on critical projects. She didn't know if this dismissive attitude was because he found it impossible to think his Son might be in any way worthy of his attention, or, if he had actually looked at her data and dismissed it as rubbish…but in the end she didn't really have any choice but to just move on and get back to work on Gendo's pet projects.

Any further mussing over the Third Child was rudely interrupted by a pair of arms suddenly passing over her to grab her gently around her waist, a familiar scent of light aftershave announcing the identity of the man behind her and calming her biologically instinctive reaction to yelp in surprise at the unannounced contact.

"You've lost weight" Kaji said easily, causing Ritsuko to smile. It had been quite some time since anyone had had really tried to flirt with her. Her probably deserved reputation of her being a real bitch generally kept most people away these days.

Of course, Kaji was only flirting for fun as a friend, the two of them went back a long way with this kind of teasing, meaning for once she could simply relax and enjoy the attention for what it was.

"Have I?" she asked with a slight smirk as she leaned back into the embrace.

"Oh yes" he agreed with a tone of a Doctor delivering bad news to his patient. "You must be enduring an unrequited love"

"How did you know?" she gasped back in mock seriousness.

"Ah, you see Rits" he said, gently turning her head and brushing a finger lightly across the mole on her cheek, actually causing her to shiver slightly in pleasure at the touch, "A woman with a mole in the pathway of her tears is destined to a life full of them".

Rolling her eyes at the absurdly corny statement, she glanced up enough to focus her attention on the beaming man above her as she caught some movement outside the room.

"If you're trying to put the moves on me" she smirked, before turning her gaze back to the floor the ceiling glass wall in front of her office, now with a purple haired Captain pressed up against them, the window steaming up slightly from the heat coming off her angry face, "I'm afraid we're not alone".

Kaji let go and stood, smirking slightly at the window and causing Misato to stomp towards the access door, her body language threatening severe retribution to her ex-boyfriend within the next several seconds.

"So. Long time no see Kaji" Akagi smiled, twisting her chair around slightly to better take in the man who had snuck into the room.

"It's been a while" Kaji acknowledged, crossing his arms in front of him and holding his grin in place with a practiced ease.

After all, if Shinji was right, Ritsuko, good ole Rits herself was fully aware of the ultimate goals of the Evangelion project.

Hell, she was up to her ever so pretty _neck _in it.

Meaning he had no choice but to treat her as an enemy. Someone he had known for close to a decade and he thought he knew well…and thought of as a friend.

It was no easy shift to make in ones thinking, even for him.

"You're a little less subtle then I recall Kaji" The doctor continued with an amused tone in her voice as she observed the Misato hammer her access code into the door lock with enough force to dent the keypad. The relationship between these two was a little more then just 'complex' to say the least, Akagi always found it both fascinating and highly amusing watching them interact.

"He's never been subtle in his life" Misato growled as she entered the room, her eyes balefully glaring at the slightly unshaven and perpetually untidy man who stood and returned her glare with a smirk on his face. "You've finished handing over Unit Two haven't you? What the hell are you still doing here?'

"Well actually" Kaji drawled with his famous grin, "I received orders this morning that I'll be staying here on loan for a while. It'll be fun, us three can hang out together, just like we used to!"

Misato's right hand slowly clenched into a fist.

"Who in the _hell_ would want to hang out with-"

Misato Katsuragis carefully prepared speech about the hundred and one reasons why she would never again 'hang out' with Kaji was rudely interrupted as the screens along one wall of the darkened room suddenly flashed into life with bright red ALERT icons, a screaming electronic siren joining in a split second later.

"Enemy attack" Misato gasped before spinning on a heel and making for the door, Akagi right behind her.

Kaji stayed behind for a second before following, feeling that same chill down his spine he had felt when Shinji had talked to him on _Over the Rainbow…_and warned him the 7th Angel would arrive today.

_Score another one for Agent Balcony _Kaji thought before heading towards the Command Center.

* * *

"We've just received a report from the Battle Cruiser _Haruna_" Aboa said several hundred meters away as the sirens continued to scream, personnel calmly flooding into the command center to take up their duty stations. "Huge submerged object detected off Ki'i peninsula. Sending data". 

Given that so far every Angel to attack Japan had come from the direction of the Pacific Ocean –and at least one from under it, several ships from the UN Pacific Fleet had been extensively upgraded over the last month to include hastily built sensor equipment, designed specifically to try and find Angels hiding deep under water. Similar to the detectors in place around Tokyo-3, the sensor system was an add-on on to the towed sonar arrays dragged behind surface warships for detecting submarines, able to detect the subtle disturbances even a low powered AT field made in the Earths own electromagnetic field.

The system hadn't even been tested yet, so a false positive was likely, but-

"Got it. The data has been analyzed" Huyga said a few seconds later, text scrolling up on the main screen as CASPER chewed through it.

AT FIELD DETECTED.

BLOOD TYPE/WAVEFORM: PATTERN BLUE.

DESIGNATION: 7TH ANGEL.

"The pattern is blue. It's an Angel" the technician said unnecessarily in a grim but professional tone, causing the Vice Commander behind him to exhale deeply, suppressing a curse. Yet again Ikari just happened to be away talking to SEELE…

"All personnel; go to first stage alert!

* * *

"The recent battle against the 5th Angel severely damaged Tokyo-3's intercept system; only twenty nine percent of the repairs have been completed to this point. Therefore, we are going to forward deploy and intercept the target, right at the waters edge. Units One and Two will engage in a coordinated assault at the moment the Angel makes landfall in a series of waves. In other words, get in close and take turns!" 

Misato's speech sounded rather professional and, perhaps, even rated as somewhat stirring in an enthusiastic 'kick that Angels ass' kind of way, at least in the Captains opinion. The Operations Director, for perhaps two full seconds, even wondered if Shinji and Asuka would show true professionalism as they headed towards their drop zones by simply acknowledging and starting their pre-drop checklists.

Predictably however, the children, well…acted their age.

"This sucks" Asuka declared with a grunt from her entry plug. "My first combat mission over Japan and I don't get to handle it solo". Turning from the fantastic view of Japan from 15,000 feet wrapped around her on her super-high resolution displays, Asuka glanced across at the Boeing 909 Evangelion Transport in formation next to her own. "Why do I have to bring _him _along?"

Predictably, a communications window opened up from Unit One at her taunt.

"Perhaps because every military theorist since Sun-Tzu has suggested that it's better to engage the enemy with superior numbers? Or would you'd rather I just stand in the background and hold your coat while you deal with the Angel on your own?" Shinji replied.

Asuka narrowed her eyes slightly at the insolence coming from Shinji, wondering not for the first time how he was able to get under her skin so damn easily. Her barbs simply washed over him without any effect, hell he often_ smiled _at her when she insulted him, like he found them enjoyable! The rest of the time, he was courteous, polite…and had an answer for every insult she threw at him…

_Damn it_.

Unlike every other guy her age who she categorized as either an idiot not worth her time or a pervert – or both, Shinji _defied_ any easy classification.

She had only met him four days ago…but already he was…what?

Granted he belonged to the same elite group she did as an Evangelion pilot. And even if his 'natural' ability to get an easy 94 synch ratio still infuriated her, she at least had pride of place in reaching 100, even if only for six seconds.

She knew it was a weak defense, a fluke she didn't understand _how_ she had achieved or how to do it _again_…but it still let her hold her head up high at him, even if her ratio was back down at a solid 79.3.

Yet here she was today with a chance to _prove_, as Shinji had suggested, that a decades worth of training -and a superior Evangelion- made _her_ the 'Alpha Pilot' in their little trio, irrespective of their Synchronization ratios…

So…she was seeking_approval _from the Third Child? Respect from him?

Growling slightly as she buried her confused emotions, she finally directed her gaze to Shinji who, infuriatingly, was just looking at her as if he knew_exactly _what was going through her head…

"Just stay out of my way Third Child".

Shinji simply smiled.

"Just stay out of my crosshairs Asuka" he said in the exact same tone, before waving with a smile and closing the channel with a snap.

"I'll show you Dummkopf" she bit out, but was cut off from blasting him as the Aircraft Commander called out the ten second warning. Focusing back on her job, she stabbed the holographic 'Commit Docking Release' button, turning her Evangelion over to Unit Two's flight control computer, and then felt the lurch as thousands of tons of cyborg was cut loose, freefalling towards the Japanese coast.

Instantly her mood brightened. She _loved _this part of her job!

Linked through the A-10 clips to her Evangelions perceptions, it felt like _she_ was falling towards Earth in a freefall, the LCL holding her in almost a perfect zero-G environment as an altitude indicator on her HUD wound down like a possessed clock.

Closing her eyes for a second, she shivered in pleasure at the feeling of complete and utter freedom, even from something as omnipresent as gravity, before a loud two-phase buzzer started to scream and forced her to open her eyes with a sigh and brace herself.

The rocket packs in her shoulder blades ignited and slammed her into her seat as Unit Two decelerated, the thrusters firing in a carefully controlled pattern to orient Unit Two's feet right at the marker on her HUD that was her LZ before starting to change her velocity from terminal to a more survivable level of speed. The rockets cut out at just under a hundred feet up, dropping Unit Two into the soft sand, its knees absorbing the last of the momentum easily. Even as Unit One crashed down next to her, tracked utility vehicles were rolling up with their power cords ready, patched into a backbone grid station a few kilometers away to ensure they would have no lack of power.

"Two against one is hardly a fair fight" Asuka muttered, mostly to herself as she held her unit perfectly still, impatiently waiting for the techs to hook them up already.

"Asuka" Misato said, sounding slightly exasperated as the Captain in her command vehicle realized the Second Child had utterly ignored everything Shinji had just tried to gently point out to her, "this is _war_, not a game. The _last_ thing I want to give the Angels is a fair fight".

"I guess" Asuka grunted, unable to dispute the logic, but burning with a desire to put Shinji and Rei in their proper places with a quick, clean, flawless victory.

Not that there was anything wrong with them providing…appropriate support of course, so long as they understood who was 'top dog'.

Power indicators hesitated, then surged as energy flowed into the Evangelions, the twin titans standing up and retrieving their chosen weapons from an airdropped arms cache; a standard issue hundred-five millimeter rifle for Shinji, while Asuka eschewed her choice of guns for an elegant progressive spear, hefting it and testing the balance with a quick toss as Shinji spoke up.

"And here it comes".

Glancing up, Asuka caught the tail end of a huge explosion of water half a kilometer out from the shoreline, blasting into the air among the ruins of what had been a shopping center before the sea level had risen. A monstrous figure emerged from the cloud to unevenly and almost sluggishly make its way towards the giants awaiting it, flights of AV-14C gunships serving as fire support giving it a wide birth for the time being, their pilots getting ringside seats for NERV's first attempt to meet the enemy head on, away from Tokyo-3.

"Commence the attack!" Misato ordered; keen to hit the Angel before it reached solid ground.

At once, Asuka drove her unit into a stomping run.

"I'll handle this one Shinji, cover my back!"

"Wait Asuka, hold back until-"

"_Ladies First!"_the Second Child declared with emphasis over his protests, Unit Two showing utterly no sign of slowing down as she thundered down into the water.

"That'll be the day" Shinji Ikari muttered to himself, stepping to the side to get some separation from Asuka as he opened fire, probing his AT field as far as he could…but it was no use, the Angel was still too far out to equalize the phase space.

The mixture of High Explosive and Armor Piercing slugs that lanced out from his rifle crashed into the 7th Angel with about as much use as the weapon usually had against a target shielded by an AT field…which was to say not much. The light tank rounds _did _however do a fine job of distracting the enormous gray and white monster standing in the shallow water, holding its attention as Asuka leapt into the air screaming before bringing her weapon down with all of Unit Two's considerable might, a loud _crack _ripping out as the business end passed Mach One and tore the Angel in half, milliseconds before she crashed back to Earth.

Asuka smirked at the suddenly silent Angel, the two halves rather pathetically sagging slightly to the left and right, her pride –or ego- welling up rapidly.

"Well, what did you think of-"

"Asuka, get the hell out of there" Shinji snapped, gripping his weapon tightly. _This isn't over yet…_

"Dummkopf, its _dead_now and…" Asuka's voice trailed off in surprise and not a little fear as with a rumble and deep groan, the Angels 'remains' started to shake violently, as if enraged-

"MOVE YOUR ASS ASUKA!" Shinji snapped in such a tone of _command_ that Asuka obeyed on pure reflex, moving back towards the shore in a bounding run, her cable automatically retracting as she headed back to her starting position-

-Just as the two halves of the Angle shuddered, then 'cast off' their skin like cocoons; a pair of smaller Angels looking identical to the original stepping out; one green skinned with orange highlights and one orange skinned with green highlights in a ying/yang pattern; _two _Angels ready to fight perfectly as one.

"That…that's a load of BULL!" Misato all but screamed in the distant Type-14 Command van. Luckily, she had managed to destroy the headset clenched in her fist at roughly the same time as she swore loudly, the official NERV logs would thus omit the rather unprofessional comment…and several others as she grabbed for another headset, though to be fair almost all the NERV and UN personnel watching the generally had the same thoughts as the Angel duplicated itself.

"This just got interesting" Shinji commented over the tactical channel he shared with Asuka and Misato, watching as familiar gray spheres punched through the skin, the 'two' Angels then twisting in perfect unison to face the shoreline and their primary targets.

"Okay, uh, we're probably going to have to fall back here and" Misato started to say, but-

The Angels attacked.

Again acting in concert, the two halves of Israfel took to the air, hunched over slightly as they arced towards the shoreline Asuka was trying to reach. Despite how deceptively weak they looked, with their arms hanging down almost loosely at their sides, Shinji knew the two sub-Angles were incredibly strong, recalling how each half had half buried him and Asuka upside down before heading off to get nuked…

Of course, _that_ time he had stood there like a dumb idiot at the sudden chaos of the Angel coming back to life, splitting and leaping at him.

Not this time.

Shinji's AT field exploded outward with _incredible_ force, the sky around the two human champions turning a dark purple as light was refracted through the barrier. Sand, half destroyed buildings, water and a huge wave of air slammed forward, focused directly at the twins leaping towards them…

The Angel –or Angels- took the blow dead on, heavily falling to the 'ankle' deep water fifty meters short of their prey before, in perfect unison, raising their arms-

And suddenly the wave of debris and matter stopped, then fell into the water as Israfel's AT fields met Unit Ones, the fields crashing, then pushing backwards towards Shinji as two separate AT fields powered by two separate S2 engines started to overwhelm him, Shinji gasping against the sudden building of pressure he _felt _against his head-

-that suddenly cut off as a new field meshed, combined and pushed back alongside Shinji's, Asuka's indomitable will made manifest as Unit Two moved up shoulder to shoulder with him.

"_Now_ who's trying to be the hero Third Child" Asuka demanded, a standard issue Evangelion pistol held ready in her right hand.

_Well well. Perhaps we're not so hopeless together after all _Shinji thought as the blaze of lights that were four AT fields continued in front of them.

"Hang on you two, help's coming" Misato said into their channel, before flicking her new microphone to another frequency and barking a command.

A few seconds later, the gunships which had backed away from the impressive pyrotechnics swung into action.

Hyrda rockets, Hellfire missiles and 30 millimeter cannon rounds blasted the naked flesh of the Angels backsides, doing little true damage as fire and smoke engulfed them, but succeeding in knocking the Angels around and keeping them hopelessly off balance as the quartet of AT fields neutralized each other-

"Asuka, go for Greens Core!" Shinji shouted as the fields collapsed fully, opening fire with his rifle towards the core on 'Orange'.

"Got it" Askua replied, her confidence back as she blasted away with her heavier caliber weapon, emptying the magazine in rapid fire, before breaking into a run. Shinji made a quick decision and threw Unit One into motion, as he focused harder then he had in quite some time on her blurred, balanced gait-

And just like that, he was back in Synch with Asuka.

The 'training' he and Asuka had been put through to fight this Angel the last time had not, as Toji had so gleefully put it, been an attempt to destroy the Angel 'through the power of rhythmic gymnastics'. It had in fact been an attempt to force both he and Asuka to learn to predict each others moves and guess each others actions in combat, to let _them_fight as two separate halves of the same attack plan, dynamically. In the end, Shinji frankly admitted hehad synchronized to Asuka far more then she to him, her force of personality had ensured it.

And it all came flowing back.

Suddenly, everything was moving in slow motion as he broke into a run alongside Unit Two, 'his' feet hitting the ground in perfect unison with 'hers' as they closed distance.

To the relatively few people watching, it was an incredible, majestic sight; the Red and Purple giants thundering towards the half stunned Angels with clouds of sand and water thrown up around them as they crashed forward. The empty rifle and handgun spun off to the side, discarded as the Units thundered through the shallow water, the gunships ceasing fire and backing away in slow 'haste' with perhaps four seconds passing as Units One and Two reached close combat range, the Angels starting to gather their wits, but not fast enough-

Shinji saw the subtle shift in 'her' torso which he mirrored without thinking, both pilots firmly planting their front 'feet' and shifting the considerable momentum they had built up from their sprint into their back foot, which scathed out and around in perfect synchronization into their targets-

The two halves of Israfel were blown backwards from only God knows how many Newtons of force, colliding in a blurred warp they 'fell' into each other and re-assumed the familiar gray form of the 7th Angel, now with the twin cores exposed as it crashed backwards, tripping on a half destroyed building and falling heavily onto its back with a huge wave of water. Seconds later –if it had looked up in time- it would have seen a pair of red and a pair of purple fleet descending towards it-

And crash into the two cores.

Several thousand tons of mass accelerated at a rate significantly greater then 9.8 meters a second squared all focused on only several square meters was just too much momentum for even the tough Core material to resist.

The cores _cracked_-

The Evangelions rebounded, leaping clear to the left and the right, utterly shattering the cores as they pushed off-

The cores started to_glow_ -

The VTOL's climbed away in haste, knowing what was coming-

The Angel exploded.

A huge column of fire blasted up into the stratosphere as the Angel efficiently converted itself to vapor, joined by a large chunk of the seabed and hundreds of thousands of tons of seawater; shaking several of the VTOL's, but luckily not downing any as for several nanoseconds, a second sun was unleashed on the Earths surface.

* * *

"And you still don't think there is something odd about your Son?" Doctor Ritsuko Akagi muttered softly to herself as the staff on duty all started cheering, clapping and smiling at each other at the stunning, fantastic victory over the 7th Angel. Even the normally reserved Vice Commander had a tolerant smile on his face as the fireball faded from the main screen, showing the two Evangelions slowly trudging back towards the shoreline, stopping only long enough to retrieve their previously discarded weapons. 

Indeed, a great victory once again against the Angels.

A victory where Shinji had shouted at Asuka to get clear after she had apparently destroyed the Angels, where he had not been stunned into inaction as Asuka had been, where he had then moved into _perfect_ synch with her in destroying them, duplicating her every move _exactly_…

No, she wouldn't just shrug this time. She was missing something…something big…something she still didn't have the answer to.

Unfortunately however, Gendo was off consulting with SEELE about the new UN funding being finalized to expedite construction of Evangelion units Three through Five…not to mention get some more cash for Tokyo-3 to finish clearing up the 5th Angels corpse. Unlike the rest of its brethren, Ramiel hadn't self destructed, almost as if it was trying to drain their resources, even in death…

"If you think Shinji is odd, you should spend a few years looking after Asuka" Ryoji Kaji broke into her thoughts suddenly, causing Akagi to jump in shock. Once again she hadn't heard his approach as he moved up next to her. "Though I have to admit, they do make quite the team together".

"Yes. Quite a team" she said as the Evangelions reached the shoreline and started to 'pack up', like an improbable couple out for a nice day at the beach about ready to go home. "I would have thought those two would be more likely to kill each other then work together as well as they just did".

"Yes, Shinij is…an odd person" Kaji shrugged, probing subtly while keeping his eyes focused on the screen, but sensing the Doctor glancing at him.

"What do you mean by that?" Akagi asked after several seconds.

Kaji shrugged, deciding to make a slight push against his onetime friend.

"He's just not what I was expecting. He's so completely unlike his Father…I can't help but wonder if he took more after his Mother".

"He never really knew his mother" Agaki replied almost defensively.

"Interesting" Kaji said with a slightly cocked eyebrow that said much without saying anything at all.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"Nothing at all" Kaji smiled, turning away from the screen towards the Doctor. "Just thinking about something Shinji said to me on _Over the Rainbow_…about how every time he got into Unit One, he told me he could feel his mother fighting along side him, that she gave him the strength to keep fighting". Shaking his head with a look of sadness on his face that wasn't entirely fake, Kaji none the less caught the look of pure, raw, guilt that flashed through Akagi's eyes for a split second at his recollection.

_Well. That confirms that _he thought, respect for his onetime friend continuing to drain away...and he couldn't help but feel diminished for the loss of it.

"I know Japanese people often believe their ancestor's spirits remain where their bodies have fallen" Kaji continued in the same tone, "I never really brought into it. But hey, if it helps Shinji keep fighting, then it's all good, right?"

"That's a little harsh, isn't it?" Ritsuko asked, to hide her relief at the fact that Kaji wasn't actually probing about the horrible truth behind Unit One…and her shock that _Kaji _sounded almost like _Gendo_ in how he was dismissing the Children as mere…components.

Kaji just raised an eyebrow at her.

"Don't get me wrong Rits. To say these kids are getting a raw deal would be a huge understatement. We're putting the weight of the world on their shoulders; the lives of three _billion_ people. I'm sure you'll agree that if we had any _choice _in the matter…"

"I know" Ritsuko replied shortly, forcing the guilt that started to well up again back down with brutal force, somewhat pleased to find Kaji shared her more practical outlook on the project. Not that _she_ thought of the children as mere components…but they were necessary to make the Evangelions work. And that was simply that.

"At least until we can find some way to get those kids out of the cockpit" she continued, her thoughts at once flashing to the Dummy Plug project, on schedule deep inside Terminal Dogma …

"But until that day" Kaji continued in a suddenly serious voice, looking over at her, "we have to do whatever it takes to keep these kids stable and functional. Even if it means buying into delusions of long dead mothers cheering from the sideline, letting Asuka beat up on half the kids at school…um, whatever Rei does with her free time…" Kaji shrugged, clearly not able to think of anything about the First Child. "Whatever it takes, we have to do it when playing for these stakes".

"Whatever it takes" Ritsuko echoed, fighting to keep a level face at the shiver that went up her spine at the words she had repeated to herself so many times over the last few years…missing the look of pain in Kaji's eyes as _he_ saw the depth of her soul in that one moment, realizing just how much she had sacrificed to NERV and Gendo Ikari, who she didn't realize was just using her, just as he had used her Mother before her…

Kaji was starting to understand the simmering hate he had seen in Shinji's eyes, when the Third Child had told him that he utterly _detested_ his own Father on a level Kaji could not possibly understand…

"Well, I'm off to go welcome the heroes' home" Kaji grinned leaning over to give a surprised Doctor Akagi a quick peck on her cheek. "I'll catch you later Ritsuko" he said, walking out of the upper Command Center level quickly enough that she couldn't see the look that had threatened for a second to come out as he said goodbye to one of his few remaining friends.

* * *

The UH-60 Blackhawk flared as it oriented on the Tokyo-3 High School Number 3. Half a dozen NERV personnel were on the ground to ensure the perimeter was closed off for the arrival of the UN transport, and a yellow smoke marker showing wind direction was noted by the pilot, who subtly adjusted his approach to he ease down onto the sports field, offload his two passengers and take on the ground team before he thundered back into the sky. 

The two Children watched the Helicopter leave, the downdraft sending the girls long red hair everywhere, but she had come prepared and carefully ran a small brush through it a few times to get it back under control before 'humphing' in satisfaction and turning to the person patiently waiting next to her.

"Well Baka, lets get going, we have an entrance to make!"

Shinji tried not to smile _too_ much. The idea that anyone could have missed the thundering great transport helicopter landing on the sports field seemed remote, but Shinji had a feeling that Asuka wouldn't have been satisfied arriving in anything short of her Evangelion.

Fortunately, Asuka had retained enough sense not to askif she could do _that_.

Also fortunately, they had been able to quickly shower and change back into their school uniforms at the airbase. Shinji had been inclined to accept Misato's offer of the rest of the afternoon off, feeling tired and wanting to just lie down. Asuka, of course, had vetoed the plan insisting that they should get back to school and continue their education. That an Angel was no excuse for slacking off.

_Slacking off my foot, she just wants to return as the Conquering Warrior Queen of legend…_

Not that Shinji could begrudge Asuka her grand entrance. Perhaps she hadn't exactly covered herself in glory today…but by the same token; he couldn't have done it without her. Not for the first time, he smiled slightly at that thought, working side by side with her again; Asuka the burning sword, Asuka the raging, unquenchable firestorm-

"What's so funny?" Asuka suddenly demanded as they walked up the long steps that linked the sports field to the lower level of the school playground.

"I was just thinking about us" he said without thinking, then winced slightly as he realized what he had just said, Asuka halting dead in her tracks and turning to glare.

"Do go on Third Child" she said in a tone that suggested he should pick the next words out of his mouth, carefully.

"I was just thinking" he repeated, somehow keeping the fear he was feeling at _that _look out of his voice, getting enough courage from somewhere to return her stare, "that when we, you and I actually work together against the Angels…we do great things" he said simply, before turning and continuing past her up the stairs.

Asuka stared at his back as he passed her, before jerking back into motion after him, stunned, as that statement had hit at something she had been denying all day long…

The long flight back had given her time to think…mostly over Shinji's shouted warning for her to get the hell away from the Angel, her face again flushing red as she realized she had probably come within several seconds of getting her backside handed to her, thanks to shear overconfidence.

Misato had said nothing after they had disembarked from their Eva's, smiling at them and hugging them in congratulations…but some of her comments about teamwork had just been a little _too _pointed, along with her congratulations of Shinji for staying cool and in control. Even if Misato had smiled at her, calling her opening attack 'very impressive' Asuka had seen it for what it was, a nudge to her vanity and ego, which made it all the more of a letdown. Asuka expected 'words' in the near future over her actions, in quiet without Shinji around.

If that frigid Doctor Akagi had been there instead of back at NERV manning the second line of defense, she probably wouldn't have gotten off so easy. And as much as she wanted to lash out at Shinji for screwing up her debut battle…something held her back.

It was that same damn itch he had given her since she had first seen him, this time whispering to her that everyone else was right, that she had gone into the battle for the wrong reasons…that if she really _was _the best, well, she would naturally prove it without having to _show_off in some stupid, childish display.

So for the rest of the ride in the helicopter, she had sat, glaring at the far bulkhead, wondering what Shinji would say, trying not to recall her own comments on the way to the battle as she had asked _why _Shinji had to come along…

And he had finally spoken.

And he hadn't criticized her battle tactics. He hadn't called her on her utter disregard of tactical procedures. There was no calling to account for how close she had come to getting herself killed…

He had just smiled and told her that when they worked together…they did great things.

Shaking her head slightly to clear it from the sudden surge of emotions, she increased her pace up the steps after him, catching up as they crested the hill together-

-Right into a thundering round of applause. Shinji felt his mouth drop as he gazed at the long length of the main school building in front of them, students packed into countless windows along it in large numbers, breaking into applause. Cheers and more then a couple of wolf whistles from the boys –which Shinji fervently hoped were directed at Asuka- washed over them as the student body applauded NERV's latest victory.

Asuka of course was far faster on the ball, putting a look of utterly innocent surprise on her face, as if she had not expected anything like this and was appropriately flattered, turning her legs slightly to deliver a stunningly cute abbreviated curtsy, which strangely appeared to cause most of the male population to collapse backwards into their classrooms.

Shinji, coming out of his surprised stupor grinned sheepishly and waved, generating more then a few appreciative cheers and wolf whistles of his own, this time of a distinctly female nature…at least until Asuka, with an oddly possessive grip, grabbed his wrist and yanked him towards the building, the chears falling off as the teachers started to get their people back under control.

"Enough time playing to your harem, Hentai" she declared as she pulled him into the deserted lower corridor, though the tone in her voice was slightly subdued and the look she was gave him for a split second…

_What in the…_

Was that jealously_? On _Asuka Langley Soryus _face_

Nah, he had to be going crazy. Sure she might have started to appreciate him at a level beyond 'scum under my shoe' but that was a long way from thinking enough of him to get jealous at attention from someone else…

Still…it was a nice fantasy for the thirty seconds it lasted.

Asuka dragged him to their classroom at speed, her hair wonderfully bouncing around her shoulders as they ran up the stairs, reaching their level - at which point she let go of his arm, all but throwing it away in haste as they skidded to a halt, coming face to face with Rei Ayanami

"Uh…hi Rei" Shinji blinked. "You just got back too?"

Rei had been on standby back at Tokyo-3 during this whole engagement. The repairs and upgrades of Unit Zero to full combat rated performance still underway, and though it could still be deployed in an emergency, it was still a week or so away from being declared fully operational, hence the decision to leave it behind as a backup, in case the Angel got past units One and Two.

Presently, Rei nodded slightly at his question, glancing at the two of them, then down at their hands - which had been held together until a second ago, before looking back up again.

For whatever reason, Rei's direct look made Shinji's face start to flush.

"You both fought well against the Angel" Rei offered.

Asuka smirked slightly, placing her hands on her hips and lifting her head.

"Jealous you were not invited to come along?"

Rei cocked her head in thought before, to Shinji's great surprise, nodding slightly.

"Yes"

Clearly, Asuka had not anticipated _that_ response. And in typical Asuka fashion, moved to correct that gap in her knowledge.

'Why?"

Rei cocked her head slightly.

"I was not able to protect my friends when deployed in the reserve position" she said, causing the other two Evangelion pilots to blink, albeit for slightly different reasons.

"Who precisely said_we_ needed your help First?" Asuka said with a slight narrowing of eyes that sent warning bells ringing in Shinji's head.

"No-one" Rei answered, glancing at Shinji for a second before looking back at Asuka. "Pilot Ikari has freely risked his life to save mine on several occasions, without hesitation or reward. If this is part of what friendship means, then I am…uncomfortable with being in a position where I am unable to do so for either of you when in combat".

Asuka frowned and her eyes lost focus for a few seconds as she mulled over Rei's comments, before apparently deciding they were acceptable and didn't dismiss her abilities as a pilot in any way, but reflected a genuine –if strange- concern.

"Well, you don't have to worry about us today Rei, we make the perfect Angel killing team here

"Indeed" Rei replied before hesitating, as if finding something hard to say…"and I am pleased that you and Shinji complement each other so effectively".  
Instantly seeing where Rei was heading, Shinji jumped into the conversation.

"We both made mistakes in that battle Rei" Shinji said smoothly, getting a look from Asuka, but one that came without words. "Things could have easily gone far worse then they did, no more or less then the other battles we've fought so far. Every engagement with the Angels is two parts preparation, two parts skill and ten parts luck".

Rei considered this for several seconds before frowning.

"That is not logical" she pointed out.

"What the Baka is trying, poorly, to say" Asuka said, and Shinji felt a chill at Asuka's almost matter of fact tone, "is that we all have to look out for each in combat…we've all made nearly fatal mistakes. Shinji getting blindsided by the 4th Angel when its arm re-grew, you getting fried by the 5th when you launched…"Asuka took a deep breath. "And my showing off a few hours ago almost getting us into deep trouble".

Shinji just stared in shock.

_Asuka _was admitting _she_ had _screwed up? In front of _Rei?

"You could not have known what would happen" Rei said almost at once in a clinical, but strangely…soothing tone. "Against the Third or Forth Angels, the probability is that your tactics would have eliminated them in minimal time and cost. If this Angel had lacked the ability to duplicate and engage, your attack would have no doubt destroyed it as you had presumed.

Now Shinji's face turned back the other way.

_Rei _was_apologizing _for _Asuka?_

_Has the world started rotating from West to East since last night? Why the hell wasn't I informed? Shouldn't there have been a memo or something?_

"Well" Shinji said into the slightly awkward silence as Askua smiled ever so slightly at Rei's vigorous defense of her actions. "Um, we should probably get to class…I need some sleep".

The two girls nodded and the trio headed into Class, some part of Shinji's stunned mind that wasn't reeling at the damn near unholy interaction between the First and Second Children, decided that he just may have seen the most significant change to date in this second chance he had been given.

And woe to the enemies of humanity if this fragile new friendship grew into the simultaneously awesome and terrible weapon it could become…

* * *

Fifty minutes later, school had ended for the day. To Shinji's annoyance, as he had predicted, everything had been a blur, his mind was utterly useless after the huge adrenaline surge from the early morning combat had faded, meaning he had ultimately picked up no knowledge at all from the lessons today. 

Then again, as he hadn't been chewed out by the Vice Commander for screwing up the battle with the 7th Angel, nor had to dodge Misato in a foul mood after having ten tons of paperwork dumped onto her desk, so he guessed he could move this entire day into the 'win' column.

"Hey Shinji" a familiar voice called out as he headed out of the gate, dodging backslaps and 'V for Victory' signs from countless people he didn't know, looking around to see Kaji hovering on the road outside the school, a rather slick looking sports car beside him.

"Kaji" Shinji spoke up in greeting, before suddenly feeling a jolt as he was pushed aside.

"KAJI!" Asuka shouted, waving in joy before all but sprinting out the gates to grab onto his arm, beaming. "You came to pick me up!"

"That's right Kido, you and Shinji and Rei too if she wants a lift for that matter".

Asuka's beaming smile faded ever so slightly as she was told Kaji hadn't come just for her, but it soon returned to full brilliance.

Turning to Toji, Kensuke and Hikari who had followed them, Shinji shrugged.

"Its okay" Hikari said for all of them, stepping over and hugging Asuka, who of course hugged her back, the two girls friendship Shinji was very pleased to see already growing rapidly. With lots of promises to call each other tonight, Asuka turned to step into the car, halting suddenly as she noticed Rei was still standing well back and not moving.

"Well come on First, we've got a lift!"

Rei didn't move.

"I do not require a…lift" she said. "I can walk home".

Asuka rolled her eyes and muttered something in German Shinji didn't get.

"No, we all have legs, but when a friend offers you a lift, you take it! Especially when it's someone as wonderful as Mister Kaji here! He _does _work for NERV you know, you _can _trust him".

Rei appeared to think about it for a second before nodding and walking up to the car, pausing before moving to sit in the back next to Shinji. Asuka wondered at the strangeness of Rei for a second before shaking her head and claiming the front seat 'shot gun' position for herself.

"Hey Ikari, we'll catch you tomorrow" Toji and Kensuke called together.

"See you then" Shinji shouted out as Kaji sat in the front seat, gunned what sounded like an _enormous _engine and threw the car into gear.

Five minutes later, Ryoji Kaji's car screeched to a halt and Shinji finally knew why Asuka had never appeared flustered in the slightest by Misato's insane driving.

It was because it had been _Kaji_ who had taught her to drive, the God damned son of a…

Stumbling out with everyone, Shinji found it depressing that Asuka had a look of thrill rider glee on her face and Rei's face, as always, just had a calm, level expression.

"What's the matter Third? Scared of a little car trip?" Asuka taunted with a smirk.

"Of course I am" Shinji spluttered.

"Hah, whimp" she snickered, quickly reaching around as Kaji got out to latch back onto his arm and sigh contently. "He's just a perfect driver".

"I'm sure" Shinji said, getting his fear –and sense of balance- back under control. "You coming to drop Rei off?"

"Well…I guess" Asuka said, the smile on her face slowly fading as she looked up at the monolithic block in front of her. "Rei…you live here?'

"Yes" she said, heading for the nearby elevator, causing the trio of people to follow her. With a typical lack of tact, Asuka spoke her mind.

"Why?" she demanded as they stepped into a dangerously run down elevator, which started to creak up the side of the building.

Rei looked confused at the question.

"Because it is the block I was assigned".

"So, move somewhere else!"

"To what purpose?" Rei asked in genuine confusion. Did not her home meet the requirements of a bed to sleep in, with the basic necessities?

"Because…well…this place is a dump" Asuka declared, calling it like she saw it, Shinji trying not to wince at how bluntly Asuka put down Rei's home…not that Rei appeared to mind. "It can't be safe or healthy to live here; a home is much more then four walls and a bed".

The doors opened onto an exposed hallway with doors down one side and a railing on the other, leaves and other light debris littering the concrete as Rei led them towards her apartment.

"I do not understand" the First Child responded, sounding slightly confused at Asuka's statement.

"A home is a reflection of your personality, a place of comfort and refuge, a place to relax and enjoy yourself, for the sake _of _enjoying yourself when needed" Shinji broke in smoothly, having had time to think about this very issue for a while, getting a surprised look from Asuka and a suppressed smile from Kaji at his elegance, as they stepped up to Rei's apartment.

"Don't you ever check your mail?" Askua asked with a slight tinge of sarcasm as Rei pushed open the door, only for Asuka's jaw to drop in horror as she stared inside Rei's apartment.

"OH- mein Gott, was die Hölle ist dieses?" Asuka spluttered as she pushed past a slightly surprised Rei to look around in horror at the state of her apartment, before whirling around to face the First Child. "Who in the hell is forcing you to live here…WHY are you living here in this mess?"

Rei's face actually blushed ever so slightly, Shinji guessing that it was more because Rei was slightly uneasy under Asuka's molten glare then because she was embarrassed at the state of her apartment.

Though Shinji couldn't disagree with Asuka's anger at the state of the apartment of the First Child.

Used bandages, soiled clothes half used prescriptions and all manner of other debris cluttered the apartment, in addition to a general 'grimy' feel to the place, not helped by the lack of natural light.

"I…I was assigned this apartment when I started to live on my own" Rei said in a slightly more quiet and unsure tone then she would normally answer in.

"Who the hell did that?"

"Commander Ikari"

"Well" Askua growled, "I have more then a few words to say to him" she said, turning to glare at Shinji and pointing in accusation. "How could you let her live like this Baka?"

"Wrong Ikari" he protested holding up his hands. "I didn't know!" he lied through his teeth, almost grinning at Asuka's rage being directed on Rei's behalf.

"And you didn't try to find out?" she demanded, stepping forward. "What are you, stupid?"

Rei watching her two fellow pilots argue felt her face redden yet again. She disliked plot Soryu blaming pilot Ikari for her apartment, especially as she simply did not understand why they clearly both found it so unacceptable…but none the less, she felt…gratitude?

Yes.

Gratitude.

At the fact that her two…friends…clearly _cared _about her so much that they had gotten angry at the state of her tiny house.

Once again, she didn't understand _why _this was so, exactly, but the fact that they could generate so much emotion over a concern for her…

"I am…sorry" Rei spoke up quietly, causing her two fellow pilots to shut up from their argument and turn towards her as she looked hesitatingly back at them. "I did not mean to cause offence…"

Asuka hissed her breath out from between her teeth. God, she _hated _people who apologized for everything, even when it wasn't their fault!

"We're not angry at_you _Rei and I'm not angry at Shinji, _we're_ angry at the people who left you in this state" Asuka sighed, letting the anger go and stepping closer to the clearly confused and embarrassed Rei. "Look, we'll get this sorted, I'm sure we can find you somewhere better to live and…." Asuka paused as she paced around and found herself in front of Rei's wardrobe, which was open to show nothing but a half dozen school uniforms. "Uh Rei, where are your clothes?"

"There" she answered, once again confused.

"No I mean your _other_clothes" Asuka asked in a straight forward manner, waiting for the answer.

"…what other clothes?"

Asuka stared at Rei.

Okay. She could get the run down apartment block.

She could even get the mess, perhaps Rei was just a slob.

But the utter lack of any kind of material possessions?

The utter lack of CLOTHES? For a teenaged GIRL?

Asuka's eyebrow, twitched, causing Kaji and Shinji to take an instinctive step back.

"Rei" she said in a voice that was strangely calm. "Have you ever been shopping in your life?"

"I…occasionally purchase limited supplies if I need them" Rei offered, causing Asuka's eye to twitch again.

"I see" Asuka replied, still glacially calm. "And who has been looking after you all these years? As your guardian I mean?"

"Commander Ikari" she answered once again. Asuka nodded as if expecting that answer, before turning to Shinji.

"I'm starting to see why you don't like your Father very much, Third Child" she said, anger blazing in those brilliant blue orbs of hers. "Tomorrow, we're going to have a little talk to him".

"The Commander is currently out of the country" Rei pointed out, something for which Shinji found himself thanking Gods he didn't really believe in. A showdown between Asuka and his Father?

It would be safer to watch someone start playing with the arming codes for N2 bombs, in his opinion.

"Then we'll talk to the _Vice _Commander" Asuka said, not to be dissuaded. "Then after we sort out a new place for you to move into" and here Asuka's face became almost dreamy, "we're going shopping!"

"…Thank…you" Rei decided to say through her surprise and…yes, it was definitely gratitude, what an odd sensation…

"Welcome" Asuka beamed, before turning back to Kaji, who unnoticed to everyone had carefully 'liberated' a bandage with a bloodstain on it into one of his pockets. "Well, let's get going, we need to drop Baka home!"

Shinji couldn't help but notice Asuka had deliberately omitted any idea of _her _then leaving Kaji at any point in the future, smiling slightly at Kaj, who clearly had caught the same hint and smirked back, before Shinji turned to Rei and bowed slightly.

"I will see you tomorrow Ayanami-San".

"Hai" was all she could get out, her face still flushed ever so slightly.

The trio backed out of Ayanami's cramped apartment and closed the door behind them, heading back to the car.

They rode in silence back towards Misato's place.

Shinji because he was holding on for dear life as Kaji expertly weaved around, through and once almost over traffic, part of him noting with a detachment the rest of him didn't feel, that Kaji was truly able to thread things just _that _much finer then Misato could, often missing opposing cards by mere centimeters, Shinji decided then and there to NEVER drive with the lunatic again.

Asuka because she was still so utterly shocked at the state of Rei's apartment. Granted, Shinji lived with Misato who she knew was the übersloth of übersloth's, but she assumed he had a nice enough place to live. In Germany, she had lived in a variety of places, most recently in modern and clean quarters inside the Third Branch facilities in Munich, clean and orderly buildings where she had become quite self sufficient in looking after herself. Tokyo-3 was a large city, with from what she understood to be a dropping civilian population…and_that _was the best NERV could do for someone as critically important as an Evangelion pilot?

Didn't they have the slightest clue how important they were damn it?

Kaji was silent mostly because he was dodging traffic at absurd speeds and violating just about every law on the books doing it.

They made it to Misato's apartment in record time again, screeching to a halt in a backward power slid into a parking space that violated at least two laws of physics and, Shinji thought, at least one of causality, but didn't appear to implode the universe.

Shinji once again got out with slightly shaky legs, drawing a scornful but playful glare from Asuka as she laughed and once again attached herself to Kaji, though this time he gently kept her to only grabbing his lower arm as they got into the lift. They exited at the appropriate floor and headed down to the apartment, Shinji looking forward to his soft bed and…wait…

What were all these DHL boxes outside?

The ones that all said 'A.L.S'?

Oh hell-

"Hey hang on, wait, is that my-"

"You got it!" A voice came from the door as it opened, revealing a Misato cheerfully smiling.

"What is MY stuff doing HERE?" Asuka demanded, letting go of Kaji in annoyance as he shot a grin at Misato that the NERV operations director ignored.

"This is your new place. You'll be living with me from now on!"

"You're kicking me out?" Shinji asked in disbelief, hiding the huge grin he wanted to put on his face with a great deal of effort.

"Hmph. So, the Great Third Child is being dumped for the new model" Asuka smirked. "Well I suppose it makes sense when you consider my far superior abilities".

"Actually, you'll be living together" Misato corrected her with that same smile on her face.

"Say WHAT?" Asuka demanded, stepping forward dangerously. "A boy and a Girl should not sleep under the same roof after the age of seven!"

Misato smiled tolerantly, but a slight edge came into her attitude as 'professional' Misato came out a little.

"After your performance today, we decided that you two need to learn to work together properly as a team. To that end, for the next week you'll be out of school and undergoing rigorous training in teamwork and tactical coordination. Both of you know how to fight alone against the Angels, now you're going to learn to fight as a _team_".

"Pft. We beat the crap out of those two Angels today, together, didn't we Shinji?" Asuka spoke for the both of them, clearly expecting a supportive response.

"Well uh, I guess we won, but um we kind screwed up as a team-"

"Exactly!" Asuka declared, taking Shinji's stuttering response as a complete confirmation of her claim, folding her arms in front of her and smirking slightly.

Then it actually caught up with her what he had said and she slowly turned to face him, a look on her face promising bad times ahead for the Third Child, who prudently stepped back behind Kaji.

"Thank you for proving my point" Misato said dryly. "This is an order, but don't worry Asuka. We've lived together before. Shinji is housebroken-"

"I am _not_Housebroken?" Shinji muttered in protest, though no-one listened.

"-and I don't really want you living by yourself anyway".

"I don't have to live by myself" Asuka said quickly, trying to turn the situation to her own advantage. "I can live with Kaji!" she said, directing her most awesome smile at her other ex guardian.

Misato grinned as well, but it was the grin of a hunter who had just been given an opening.

"And whose idea do you think it was to start this training Asuka?"

"It was…no…NO!" she said with a gasp, turning a look of utter betrayal on Kaji. "How_could_ you?!"

"Come on Asuka" he said soothingly. "You need to live with someone, you're mature, far more then most other kids your age, but you're too young to live by yourself…and I'm too busy to look after you". Turning away from the pouting Asuka who almost looked like she was about to cry –a look he knew was utterly fake- Kaji shot a grin at Misato.

"I'll see you later Katsuragi" he smiled before turning to Asuka and smiling more gently. "Asuka, it'll be fine. You're just moving in with Shinji. You don't have to be scared"

"I am _not _scared" she ground out, glaring at everyone as if daring them to challenge her statement.

At which point she realized in shock that she _was _scared of Shinji, on some level.

Not physically or anything stupid like that…she simply didn't know how to relate to him, how to deal with him, how to _control _him or manipulate him like she could almost anyone else around her.

And she didn't know how to deal with the feeling of butterflies in her stomach whenever she thought about four days ago, pressing herself into Shinji's back and reaching -hugging- around him as she rested her head on his shoulders, placing her hands on his on Unit Two's controls as the 6th Angel was dragged up to the surface….the feeling of her body against his-

_STOP IT!_

"I'm sure" Kaji grinned as he saw the minuet hesitation inside Asuka's eyes, correctly guessing its cause before turning to Shinji. "Oh Ikari, can I have a quick word while Misato gives Asuka the grand tour?"

"Of course Kaji-san" Shinji nodded, stepping away with Kaji to the end of the balcony as Asuka stepped inside, the older man sighing as he watched the sun slowly continue on its arc towards the horizon, the sky already taking on the slightest red tinge from the approaching sunset, still an hour or so away.

"You know, Asuka is going to take Rei shopping this weekend" Kaji smiled. "You'll probably be invited along by them, to carry all their purchase and all that".

"Oh…good" Shinji replied in a tone that suggested he had just been cheerfully told Asuka would try to poison him tonight as he in depression tried to calculate how much stuff Rei could be forced to buy with several million Yen sitting in her bank account.

The answer was not good.

"For that matter, they'll probably have Misato come along as well, you know, women's stuff and all that. So perhaps you might want to hang out with me for the day and do guys stuff?"

_Translation, we need to talk, privately_ Shinji thought.

"I'd be honored…I have more then a few questions to ask about…well…" he trailed off with a glance back at the door to the apartment, Kaji quickly catching his drift.

"Ahhh" he said with a knowing smile. "Yes…Asuka is quite the girl. I hear she has made a rather impressive impact at your school".

"I know" Shinji said softly. "And um…there is this dance coming up at school in a couple of weeks…and uh….now I'm going to be living with her and…um…well…"

Kaji couldn't help but smile at Shinji, contrasting the red faced, almost stuttering kid in front of him with the adult who had confronted him on _Over the Rainbow_. It was somewhat comforting to see that there was more to Shinji then the haunted young man who had approached him,pleading for help four days ago, that the horrors he had been put…no, _forced_ through hadn't destroyed him as Kaji had secretly feared.

Under all the horror, there was still a 14 year old kid, asking for advice on dating.

_Well. Perhaps, there is still hope for the human race yet _Kaji thought, his smile widening slightly.

"Oh, that I can help with…if you could help me with something" Kaji offered as he stood up and turned back towards the apartment.

"And what might that be?" Shinji asked, smiling slightly in resonance with Kaji's infectious grin.

"Well…" Kaji said, placing his arm around his shoulders in a friendly, almost fatherly way that Shinji found he didn't mind. "About Misato…do you think you could find out for me what her current dress size is?"

_Do they issue spies suicide pills? _Was Shinji's first response to _that _question before he stopped and thought about it.

After all, _he _was the person who did all the damn laundry at their place…

"Kaji", Shinji said with an increasing smirk on his face, "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship"…


	11. Three Colors: Red

Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year!  
This year, my New Years Eve celebrations were rather pathetically sad, most of the group I usually hang with were out of the country, out of the city or in the case of one person, so damn sick he just got out of hospital.  
So instead of going over to a friends place or going out or even getting laid or anything fun, I sat at home.  
Which ironicly ended up being rather cool. Despite the fact that fireworks are illegal in New South Wales, everyone across Sydney set off their own private display last night around my house, when midnight hit it was frigen AWESOME to watch several kilotons worth of firepower exploding -well at least it sounded like it!-

None the less, in the long boring wait this afternoon and evening, I decided if I'm going to sit around moping, I might as well sit around moping and finish off the latest bit of fanficiton.

That also might be the affect of the little Rei Ayanami standee I got for Christmas from my Sister. I have no idea how she knew I loved Evangelion, I have no idea she even knew WHAT Evangelion was. But now I have a Rei Ayanami, about six inches tall give or take in her plug suit, holding the Lance which reaches much higher behind her back, sitting on top of my computer tower and inspiring me.  
It also came with a piece of chewing gum from Japan itself. Which was rather cool.  
Anyway.

This chapter(s) are something of a writing experiment for me, a style I've never used before and I thought I would give a try. I think I commented before that this fanfic is also a little bit about this kind of testing, so there you go. In this case, its a kind of 'split perspective' test, where you show the same events from the perspective of three different people in three different chapters. Think 24 except with each episode only focusing on ONE person, then the next episode going to the NEXT person or something. Or more accurately, like that Simpsons episode with 'Barts Day' and 'Lisa's Day' and 'Homers Day' and so on, if you can remember it.

The problem is, that it got a LITTLE out of control and I kept writing and writing and writing...you're looking at the first two complete chapters standing at 18K and 15K each, with the final chapter at 14K which I expect to increase just a tad by the time I expect to finish it.

I blame Academia Nut and his most excellent "Thousand Shinji" crossover -if you haven't read it, do so, its rated M so you might have missed it- and the bastard keeps posting chapter after chapter, moving the timeline along and leaving me flailing behind. I don't know if this is some sub plot of his Tzeentchich scheming to get me to write faster -and his later chapters are directly responsible for a large amount of the _next _chapter which in turn rewrote half the bloody story- but its working...

Focus...focus...

The chapters are named after a 1990's film trillogy that apparently won worldwide critical acclaim called the 'Three Colors Trilogy". I never saw them, but the titles worked rather nicely from my perspective, partially because these chapters are VERY heavily character driven more then event driven and really revolve around the pilots.

Part One: "Three Colors: Red"

Part Two: "Three Colors: White"

Part Three: "Three Colors: Purple"

And if you can't figure out what those colors represent, then someone needs to hit you over the head with a progressive knife.

Last thing to say, if these chapters just don't DO anything for you, its perfectly understandable and rest assured that we'll get back to the tried and true linear multiple POV chapters after this, but I thought it would be a fun thing to try out. I'll be posting one chapter a day so people don't go insane, so you'll get 'Three Colors White' tomorrow -which IMO is stronger, if insane to write, bloody _hell _Rei is a hard character to write! - and 'Three Colors Purple' the day after that.

* * *

Dawn broke over Tokyo-3 on Saturday September the 5th 2015, the light and heat from the distant star striking the city and heralding another day of intrigue, plotting, reconstruction and repair; in short a typical day in NERV's fortress against the Angels when the aforementioned attackers were, well, not attacking. Sol, the star Earth orbited didn't really care about the plots and activities of the city it was not illuminating…but then again, humans were pathetically insignificant next to the ball of thermonuclear fusion and not really worthy of its attention. 

Though on balance, had it been capable of rational thought, it might have found some degree of commonality with a fiery young adolescent stepping into a shower inside the fortress city.

Asuka Langley Soryu had once had her long auburn hair - which she rightly considered her best trait - compared to a blazing sunset. The comparison had secretly flattered her, even if the guy who made it back in Germany had been an utter jerk with an inflated opinion of himself. None the less, she took a great pride in her appearance and her literal crowing achievement, meaning that each morning she went through a methodical process in the shower to ensure that it –and she- would look as flawless as the day before.

First, she washed the hair out with a double action shampoo, often twice if she was talking a shower after having to sit inside an LCL filled coffin for a few hours, with no more then a five minute shower between the entry plug and her bed. Then she rinsed it carefully, before working through a series of superior German conditioners including a duel action moisturizer / reconstructor, generally followed by a glosser to bring out her color, before rinsing off one last time.

_This_ morning as she showered under the wonderful hot water, she took extra care to get her hair looking its best, using up a dangerous amount of her conditioner reserves to achieve perfection, before turning her attention to the rest of her body, methodically running an exfoliating washcloth over every part of her perfectly tanned and toned body to scrub off the smallest trace of dead skin, noting with pleasure that her feminine attributes were continuing to mature; she was well in advance of anyone in her year at school…and arguably in direct competition with some girls several years her senior. Sighing contently with a smile on her face that would have utterly terrified Toji Suzuhara or Kensuke Aida, Asuka hummed a comforting tune to herself deep from her subconscious as she went about her daily routine, finally stepping out of the shower onto the bathroom mat to dry off, before taking a seat to methodically shave her legs to a silky smooth finish.

Asuka demanded perfection in all things…and expected nothing less of her own body.

All in all, this entire process had become less of a morning shower to her then a morning ritual. Not in the least because she had increasingly needed the hot, soothing water to wash away the dark shades that haunted her sleep…even if she would neveradmit it to anyone. Least of all herself.

Ensuring her towels were set, she let the content look on her face drop away to a more typical expression of mild glowering, against the expectation that she would find the Third Child waiting outside as she slammed opened the door-

There was nobody waiting outside.

Well except Pen Pen, who dropped his copy of the Wall Street Journal and all but flew past her into the bathroom. In any other house, waking up in the morning to find a Penguin checking the stock market while waiting for a hot bath before heading for a nap inside a fridge would probably be grounds to go and see a psychiatrist…but in Misato Katusragi's apartment…well…it was pretty much situation normal.

Still, it was a disappointing outcome. She as yet had failed to catch the Third in a position where she could flaunt her body to cause maximum embarrassment to him and develop _some_ kind of chink in his mental armor. It was increasingly infuriating her that _nothing _she did appeared to really affect him.

Oh sure she could annoy him, irritate him or just plain hurt him –though doing any of those three was considerably harder then she had hoped- but utterly nothing had a lasting effect…and even worse, Asuka was finding herself growing used to the idea of living with him.

She had considered it an utterly insane idea two days ago, the very _thought _that they should live together! Two adolescent teenagers with their hormones firing at full speed! She could control herself of course, but how could that Shinji be expected to control _himself _around_her? _The hottest damn Girl he had ever seen?

Misato's answer had been less then blunt, suggesting that Shinji was the most well behaved, helpful and downright polite person she had ever had living with her and that she had great confidence in his ability to deal with Asuka's advances.

Asuka didn't know what had infuriated her more at that point. Misato's not so subtle hint that Shinji made a far more reliable roommate then _she_ had…or the implication that _she _would be making advances on_him!_

_Oh come on Asuka…we both know how you kept glancing at him yesterday during training, with him in that tight fitting dance getup as he built up a sweat-_

Asuka silenced the traitorous voice with the mental equivalent of a roundhouse kick before stepping into her room and swiftly getting changed into her 'going out to be seen in a socially acceptable venue' clothes. Barely half her stuff had gotten inside the apartment and she had ruthlessly selected only utterly critical boxes from the tons of clutter she had built up to be put in her room, sending the rest into storage down in the Geofront.

She still hadn't really had time to thanks to their full day of stupid team coordination training yesterday, but thankfully Misato had granted them today off to go shopping with Rei, accepting Asuka's dubious logic that it was just another form of team building when you got down to it.

Well, that and the fact that Asuka had breezily invited her along and said she wanted to buy something for her wonderful Guardian. Misato had probably seen right through the attempt at bribery, but hell, it didn't make the bribe any less sweet…

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she straightened the blue sleeveless shirt with the high collar she had chosen from her selection, carefully ensuring there wasn't the slightest wrinkle or trace of lint that might mar her appearance before nodding in approval and reaching for a brush-

"Breakfast is ready!" Shinji's voice came from the direction of the kitchen faintly through the door.

Her hand halted just before reaching the brush. It generally took her seven minutes to brush her hair into the state she considered acceptable, add another eight if she really wanted to get perfection for some formal occasion using hairspray products. And today clearly fell into that category.

On the other hand, she could admit that Shinij _did _know how to cook well and if there was one thing that could ignite her anger this early in the morning, it was having a cold breakfast because she had gotten to the table too late.

_Screw it _she decided, gathering her hair into a loose waterfall over her shoulders and snapping a convenient band to tie it off into a simple ponytail._I'll finish up after breakfast…it's not like the Baka is going to care or notice my hair._

Opening her door, she moved down the hall towards the delicious scents wafting towards her.

"Ohh, that smells good" she said in approval as she entered the dining room, dodging Pen Pen as he too made his way to the table with a small towel around his shoulders, making a beeline for the sardines Shinji had laid out for him. With an expression of surprise, she glanced over a very European breakfast quite different from yesterdays rather traditional Japanese breakfast, with utterly amazing smells coming from the table as Shinji finished laying out the last of it.

"Well I have to say, having a house broken male around is a more useful thing then I gave Misato credit for" Asuka said dryly as she dropped to the floor next to the table, still not entirely used to this Japanese style of sitting on the floor, Shinji sitting down opposite her.

But hell, when the food was _this_ good and she didn't have to cookit, she could dig it.

Without further comment, Asuka dug in, suddenly feeling the hunger she had developed overnight after the exertion of gyrating around that accursed dance mat in the corner of the room. In fact, she was so caught up in eating that it took her a good minute to realize Shinji was continually stealing glances at her as he slowly downed his slice of toast.

"_What?" _she demanded when she couldn't take it any more, dropping her fork and glaring across at him.

Shinji blinked in surprise as she confronted him, the Third Child apparently realizing that she was _not _a blind idiot unaware of what was going on around her as she kept him pieced by her gaze, not shifting a millimeter as she waited for his response.

"Your hair" he said, after he rapidly swallowed his mouthful of toast. "It's just…"

Asuka didn't change her expression in the slightest as she felt tension slowly raise her blood pressure.

_No its not like the Baka would notice my hair_ she cursed silently even as another part of her started to think up possible comebacks, of which she thus far had precious few.

Well, she would just bear it and add it to the list, glaring at him as if to make him up hurry up.

"Well…" he continued, looking at her as he put down his half finished slice of toast, clerly trying to brace for something. "Without your A-10 clips and with it pulled back like that…you just look…"

"Yes?" she asked with a slight sigh, wondering why he had gotten so flustered.

Clearly, he had much to learn about delivering and taking insults properly, they had a certain rhythm and flow that if broken, would just ruin the whole effect-

"Really, really stunning".

Asuka's mind crashed to a halt at those words, seeing Shinji's own eyes widen slightly, as if surprised he had had the guts to say such a thing to her face, a look that _had _to be reflected on her own face, until she saw his face turn in on itself in a faint cringe, Shinji even starting to lean back from the table edge, as if he was preparing to be blasted out the window…

And that look caused any response from Asuka to die unsaid on her lips.

Excusing herself from the table and not even noticing her distracted mind had formed the words in German, she nimbly rolled to her feet and walked back to her room as those three words from Shinji rocked through her mind, her good mood if not gone, at least somewhat muted as she sat down on the edge of her stupid futon, her face now set in something of a frown.

She had, since puberty hit her age group, gotten countless comments from boys about her looks, so much so that the novelty had mostly worn off. In fact, it was generally the absence of such comments that stood out more then the comments themselves, which she had unanimously found to be shallow and superficial.

Of _course _she was beautiful damn it, any idiot could see that. Her hair in Japan thus far had been the subject of at least five dozen love letters, sixteen Haikus and three semi decent drawings of moderate to good talent, one of which she might even keep.

But none of that had hit her with the same force as Shinji's simple statement.

Mostly it was because she knew he was really talking about _her. _Unlike just about everyone else in her age group who was easily overawed –damn right they should be- by her status as an Evangelion pilot, Shinji as a combat tested member of that rather select group had no reason to be…meaning he was truly talking about _her_.

She remembered his almost stuttered comment on the _Othello _when she had unveiled 'her' Evangelion to him; that its bright red color complemented her hair. At the time, Asuka hadn't been entirely sure if he had meant it, or, if he was just stuttering out something that sounded legitimate, so she had just let it slide. But the complement he had paid her sixty seconds ago…that had not been a lie. _That _she had seen simply come out without him even thinking about it, seeing the flash of surprise that had passed through his eyes for a millisecond as he realized what he had said, followed by the look of slight unease as he waited to see how she would react…as if he was afraid she would hurt him…

For completing her?_That_ thought had shaken loose a little of the furniture in her mind; that the Invincible Third Child would be afraid to _complement_ her, to the point that she had excused herself from the table and retreated back to her room, not even noticing that she had spoken in German until she had taken her seat and started to think.

_Gott, why does he have to be such a…a…a…argh! _She cursed silently as she flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

Well, that was the problem, wasn't it?

Who the hell _was _Shinji Ikari?

Even worse, part of her felt that same 'butterfly squadron performing aerobatics in stomach' feeling edging up as she reflected again on his statement, knowing that unlike every other jerk who might have _thought _he was being sincere…somehow, she just _knew _Shinji actually_ was_.

He had found her emergency change of hairstyle, minus her A-10 clips, 'stunning'…

Glancing over at her bedside 'table', she rolled over and reached across, picking up the two red neural connectors and gently running her thumb over the smooth, hard plastic as she thought about them.

She had worn the clips since she was nine since the first time she had joined with Unit Two, only taking them off in the shower or when she was sleeping. They had become a part of her identity, telling everyone at NERV 'I am the Second Child, I am Asuka Langley Soryu!' Just about everyone at school she had talked to had commented on the exotic looking clips, looking at her with awe when she told them -as if it was unimportant- that they were not hair clips, but part of the neural interface that let her pilot her Eva…

And although the association wasn't precisely logical, Asuka had always felt diminished without them, as if by taking them off, she was shedding the Evangelion pilot, moving closer to that poor, pathetic little girl who had walked in on…on…

Closing her eyes tightly and breathing sharply through her nose, she willed away the tears that wanted to come for a few seconds as she gripped the clips tightly, suppressing the memory until she felt clam again.

Then, almost hesitatingly, she replaced the clips on her bedside table and gently pulled the band out of her hair, sitting up to take a good, long look at her reflection in the mirror.

'Well…without your A-10 clips and with it pulled back like that…you…just look…really, really stunning…'

_Without the A-10 clips…_

_He was talking about Asuka Langley Soryu _she thought to herself. _Not the Second Child…not the designated pilot of Eva Two, not his wingman…just…me._

_So who am I?_

_I am not four years old._

_I am fourteen, soon to be fifteen_

_I am the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit Two._

_I am the Second Child…but_

"…I'm also Asuka Langley Soryu" she said in an almost whisper, directly at the reflection in the mirror.

It was that simple.

She was not one or the other…she was both.

She didn't become less _or_ more by putting on, or taking off her clips…she was just who she was.

_I am Asuka…Langley…Soryu _she thought again, feeling her confidence explode suddenly into a nova of power inside her as she looked at the clip-less image in the mirror.

_I, am I. _

_Nice to meet you._

And with that thought, she reached over for her brush and a short selection of hair products, and got to work.

* * *

Putting the finishing touch on her hair, Asuka gathered her few required personal belongings for this days activities and quietly slid open her door, cocking her head slightly as she heard Misato talking to Shinji in the living room. Stealthfully, she made her way up to the end of the corridor, the voices growing louder as she tried to unashamedly eavesdrop on the conversation…

Ah, that was better.

"…in her room" she heard Shinji faintly saying to Misato and correctly guessed he was talking about her, upping her interest level considerably. "I…think I might have insulted her or something…I was just trying to say how I liked the way her hair looked but…I think I might have uh…"

_Oh for the love of God…that was anti climactic._

"Baka" she broke in with an annoyed sigh as she stepped around the corner into view of her wingman and her guardian, causing Shinji to jump ever so slightly before he turned to face her as she stepped around the corner and leaned against the wall, taking a delight in even this slight chink in Shinji's persona.

"Only in _your _mind would you consider complementing someone as a reason for her to leave the table" Asuka said with a raised eyebrow, pleased at the snicker on Misato's face and the somewhat sheepish look on Shinji from having been caught talking about someone behind her back. "For future references, I went to finish getting _ready" _she continued, pushing off the wall and walking slowly towards him with a careful heal-toe motion that generated a rather implacable stride.

"Uh…noted" he muttered, his gaze not shifting a micron from her as she moved closer, actually finding herself somewhat pleased that she was able to get the Third Childs undivided attention _as _Asuka Langley Soryu as she halted in front of him with a challenging look on her face, letting her snakelike ponytail arc around to splay over her left shoulder and arm.

"How does my hair look _now _Third Child?" she actually dared, wondering if he would have the guts to…

"More stunning" he replied instantly, this time without the slightest hesitation and a genuine smile on his face.

"Well, did you expect anything less?" she muttered as her hands moved up and carefully realigned her hair behind her head, mostly to hide a formation flyover by the butterfly squadron in her stomach, only a slight flicker in her smile showing her true feelings to Shinji's honest and…well…_kind_ words.

Misato caught it however, moving a hand in front of her mouth to cover a smile as she directed a _very _knowing look at her that, that in turn caused her own smile to twitch slightly wider.

"Come on Asuka, stop trying to make Shinji fall unconscious from blood loss, we have shopping to do!"

_Ah yes_.

_Shopping._

In dealing with the spontaneous situation with Shinji, she had forgotten the enormous core event of the day.

_Shopping…shopping…shopping!_

She started to laugh, almost cackling in fact when she saw Shinji flinch away from her sudden enthusiasm.

Well well well, the Third Child is scared of a little shopping trip.

The possibilities …

This could be a very productive day indeed.

* * *

"Damn it, we're still five minutes early" Asuka pouted as they came up to the doors to the massive shopping center that formed the heart of the shopping district of Tokyo-3. Around them, small groups of people were arriving and waiting for the doors to open, from families to single shoppers to groups of older school kids ready to start spending money.

_Not that they'll have anything on me when _I'm _finished _Asuka thought as her mind tried to figure out how to get the doors to open, _now!_

"Hey Misato, try your access card and code on that lock!" she suggested, pointing to the security panel next to the door, knowing that senior NERV personnel's access cards could get them inside just about any place in Tokyo-3 thanks to the MAGI's interconnectivity…

"Asuka" Misato said with an amused look, "that code is for emergency use only".

Well true enough. All the access uses were logged and Misato would probably have some explaining to do if she used it for a non essential purpose.

_But on the other hand…_

"But this _is _an emergency!" she declared, pointing down the street at the familiar figure she saw moving toward them "Ayanami is coming and she needs new clothes, stat!"

Shinji and Misato turned to look. Sure enough, Rei was approaching and sure enough, she was dressed in her omnipresent school uniform. "She can't go shopping looking like that!"

"She…needs to go shopping, to go shopping?" Shinji asked in an all too _male _tone…

"What are you, stupid?" she asked by reflex as she turned to face him, flicking her hair and feeling slightly giddy that she got an equally reflexive widening of his eyes in response to her hair flying around her as she stepped closer, ignoring the appreciative comments from more then a few other guys in the local area. "She can't go shopping looking like that! It's just not done, don't you know _anything_?" she asked, actually admitting she had found a modest degree of enjoyment from her verbal fencing with Shinji over the last few days, though this morning he appeared to be a little distracted…which was too bad.

"I…uh…." was the response from the Third Child, causing Asuka to sigh. Yup, he wasn't on his game today…damn, she had clearly screwed his mind at breakfast.

Well, in that case, victory was hers. Perhaps she would tone down the teasing…just for today at least, to help everyone get alone.

"Humph. I thought as much! A typical male" she sighed, but in an overly dramatic way to ensure he knew she was joking, before turning towards Rei. "Hey! Ayanami, over here!" she waved, pretty sure she had gotten Rei's attention, but the First made no clear response, slightly irritating Asuka.

After all, this whole day was –mostly- for _her _benefit.

"Typical male?" Shinji was appealing to Misato in protest behind her, of course to no avail. No _man _would come between women on _this _subject!

"Yes Shinji, you're a typical male, but we women _need_ typical males along with our shopping trips" Misato –rightly- pointed out to the Third.

"Well I am _so_ glad to hear you say that" a new voice came in suddenly, causing Asuka's eyes to widen as she spun around, again her tightly gathered hair whiplashing around as she sought out-

_YES!_

"KAJI!" she shouted in joy, all but leaping across the distance that separated them as she crashed into her former guardian and clamped onto his arm with a delighted expression…though for the first time, part of her mind was not entirely sure in the same way she always had been around him. The look he had been giving Misato when she turned towards him…and Shinji's passing comments yesterday during a quick break from gyrating around the dance floor that Misato and Kaji really _did_ still care a _lot_ about each other but hid it deep…

In the deepest part of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder if she had never even _been_ in contention in Kaji's mind…if he had never looked at her as anything more then a surrogate daughter…

She knew for a fact he really _did _care about her, it had been a lifeline she had held to though many dark times…and even more embarrassing incidents. Asuka's face still went bright red every time she remembered _that_ night on _Over the Rainbow. _It had been the night before Shinji and the Stooges had arrived with Misato, she had found a nice little corner of the ship with a wonderful warm night to spend just watching the stars…and getting drunk on the beer Kaji had –reluctantly- let her partake in. Kaji had suggested in fact that on arriving in Japan, she would make lot of new boyfriends and that the Third Child in fact was a boy…

Of course, at that point in a half drunken insistence, she had declared that she didn't care about any 'brats' and that he was the only man for her…and she was ready to 'do the other stuff' with him.

On reflection now, she was more then smart enough to see that he had been trying to let her down gently by telling her that she was still a little too young…but her response of lifting up her dress –with no bra underneath- and flashing him, in hindsight, had probably been _slightly _too much, too fast.

But by the same token, his actions had _proven _he cared about her, from the way he had then gently helped her put the dress back on, walked her on her unsteady legs back to bed and quietly helped her get to sleep with a tender kiss on her forehead, never mentioning the incident to _anyone,_not even bringing it up with her…

But now, with Shinji's comment about their relationship hanging in her head and her memory of the way Kaji had glanced at Misato seconds ago…in a moment of cold, dispassionate logic, she wondered if she had ever had a chance at all.

_Its not fair _part of her mind wailed. _They want us to be adults and fight their war for them, risk our lives for them but they still treat us like children in _that _way! No-one can possibly understand this…well…except perhaps-_

"Hey there" Kaji suddenly said from next to her, snapping her attention back to him as she looked up at his grinning face. "I love that hairstyle" he commented as his eyes traced around her new cascade of hair.

"Really?" she replied in, for once, genuine surprise and delight. She was about to follow this up with her best 'cute' look and say 'well I did it for you' but…didn't.

She lied all the time,_everyone _lied all the time about little things like that she knew, but she found, strangely, that it just didn't feel…appropriate this time.

Tracing the thought, she found it was because, of all the things…that she didn't want to hurt Shinji's feelings? He _had_ been the one to suggest that her impromptu hairstyle looked great and she should keep it after all…

It must be this team building stuff rubbing off on her.

_Yeah, that was it. There was no reason to insult her _teammate_ in that way, credit where credit was due, after all._

_Sure Sister, you just keep telling yourself that…_another voice snickered in her mind

_Quiet you! _She shouted back, delivering another mental kick to _that_ voice that knocked it out.

"It was just an impromptu decision" she finally said, though only perhaps a second had passed in real time as she mentally battled. "So! You're coming shopping with me…err…us?"

"Well actually, yes and no" he said, to Asuka's confusion -and what she thought was Misato's relief?

Together again my ass Ikari...

"I came to grab Shinji; I thought we might go shopping for some boys stuff while you ladies have fun".

_Wait, he can't take Shinji? I need him! This whole day of dragging him around and making him stutter as we all keep modeling clothes in front of him…_

"But…but" Asuka stuttered as Rei approached out of the corner of her eye, "I…we, need him to carry everything!" she whined in protest, picking up the first out of the corner of her eye as she approached the group.

_And to model in front of him any and all new bikini's that may be purchased, all -_of course-_ in an effort to just get under _his _skin…and not show off _your _skin… _the voice whispered once again in the back of her mind as it came around.

_SHUT, UP _Asuka bellowed, mentally picking up the equivalent of a two by four and pummeling the voice once and for all into silence.

"If you require male assistance to carry purchases" Rei spoke up as she joined the group in her quiet voice, "there are six Section Two agents currently assigned to watch us, any three of which could serve that function while leaving an acceptable bodyguard force".

"What?" Asuka demanded in surprise as she turned around. "Where?"

"There" Rei said, pointing towards a group of men who to Asuka, looked like nothing more then a bunch of casually dressed businessmen but when she studied them closely, she saw the air of detachment and observation that quickly marked then as Two-Delta, protective bodyguards…

Well, okay, perhaps Kaji was going to take Shinji away, for a short time at least. But _she _didn't have the slightest intention of lugging dozens of bags around for _hours_!

"Well that's not actually such a bad idea" Kaji grinned at them with an odd look on his face as Asuka let go of his arm and marched a few steps in their direction.

"Hey! You six" she demanded in her most imperious voice to get their attention, causing them to flinch slightly, but not look up -to her annoyance- forcing her to raise her voice. "Yes, _you _group of Two guys" she repeated in a somewhat less friendly tone, stabbing a finger at them and finally getting their undivided attention. "Over here, now!"

Clearly not exactly happy, but with no choice, they looked at each other and started over, their previously casual faces as they tried to pull off the 'friends shopping' routine vanishing behind the professional masks of NERV intelligence agents.

Well, Rei called it alright she smiled, turning around to her fellow pilot.

"That's some good team thinking First!" she smiled, then at this close range in this light, really started to _see _Rei.

Her skin was…well…a light mess of crud that was only visible from this range, her hair was the most basic possible cut with zero creativity and she lacked even the slightest hint of _any_ kind of makeup at all…

_Well, this certainly puts a new spin on things _she thought, again cursing –and blaming- Shinji's father over Rei's current situation.

It wasn't exactly that she was best friends with the Girl…but Asuka saw in her a dangerous precedent. If NERV stated to think they could treat one of their most important personnel –an Evangelion pilot- so cheaply and so horribly, well, who's to say what might happen to _her_ in the future?  
Clearly, they had to be dissuaded of this.

Well that and she had to admit she felt a great deal of pity for the strange Girl after seeing the state of her living conditions and learning more about the one male role model she had in her life…

And in that spirit…

"Do you cut your hair yourself?" she demanded, looking at the split ends and slightly uneven lines before forgetting that line of thought and concentrating on the tiny splotches on her skin. "Hell, what kind of skin products are you using?"

"Just…soap" Rei replied in a slightly surprised sounding voice.

Asuka submitted at that point –in German- that Rei was not just a tomboy, but the übertomboy of übertomboys. And while another person might have just given up and done a bear minimum…well…she _loved _a challenge.

"Okay, new plan" she declared in a firm voice, taking charge as thoughts raced through her mind. Rei was in no shape to go shopping for clothes…

"FIRST we get you a makeover, _and then _we go shopping!" Asuka decided before, on reflection, deciding that although of course _she_ didn't need it, some time in a beauty salon didn't sound like a half bad way to start the day. "Hell, makeovers for all three of us!" she declared at Misato, causing her guardian to beam in joy at the idea, Asuka guessing she couldn't often afford or take the time out to visit such a place…and Asuka felt that she sort of owed at least_ something _to Misato for taking her in.

Wait, didn't she hate that idea?

"T..Thank you" Rei replied eventually with a slight blush on her face, as if surprised at the idea of being taken for a makeover…or perhaps shocked that someone could care for her, or take such a _feminine _interest?

Asuka just grinned at her as the agents come over.

"You wanted to talk to us?" a cool voice, modulated to let someone knew that they were doing something rather stupid suddenly broke into her thoughts, causing Asuka to turn around to face six rather annoyed looking Section Two agents, who had dropped all pretenses of being harmless window shoppers, for the moment.

Oh they would pay for taking _that _tone with _her_…

"Yes" Misato declared imperiously, stepping up next to Asuka, in a tone that suggested they really should listen _very _carefully. "As of this moment, three of you-"

"Four" Asuka corrected as she did a mental calculation of the amount of clothes Rei would need to fill a completely empty wardrobe with a bear minimum of attire…

"-Four of you are reassigned to porter detail, you get the honor of carrying our purchases today. The other two can stay on shadow detail, decide among yourselves".

The lead agent looked like he was about to protest for a second, but a long, level look from Misato clearly let him know the futility of debate.

With a nod and a locked jaw, he turned around and the six started arguing in a heated tone about who would have the questionable 'honor' of becoming her…their mules for the day.

"That's some nice work Misato" Asuka said in an impressed tone of voice.

Asuka _always_ approved of a proper use of authority by a confident woman.

Misato grinned, then as the four 'lucky' agents approached, took them aside to begin briefing them. At the same time, Shinji ambled over to Rei, leaving just her and Kaji alone.

"So" Asuka said in a tone of forced cheerfulness. "What are you going to take Shinji to buy?"

"Oh, probably some clothes and a few bits and pieces" Kaji shrugged amiably. "Mostly we just want to have to some to chat together about a few things".

"Well he needs someone with fashion sense, all that baka ever bother to put on is that school uniform. Hell Kaji, he's almost as bad as Rei, he could look far better if he just _tried _a little…"

"Interesting" Kaji nodded with a slight smile on his face.

"Now what is _that_ supposed to mean?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh not much…its just that you appeared to be paying rather _close_ attention to Shinji if you know what's in his wardrobe, for someone who only just moved in two days ago…"

"Wh…by…arg! Don't say things like _that_ Kaji!" Asuka protested, suddenly feeling mortified as she realized what she had said.

"Oh just go with your feelings Asuka" Kaji laughed. "It's how Misato and I got together the first time…now _that _was a wild ride".

"What do you _see_ in her?" she protested quickly at the opening, to change the subject…and out of a morbid curiosity.

_What don't you see in me?_ _I can change!_

"Oh, you would have had to be there" Kaji temporized with a knowing smile. "If you had asked anyone before we got together, I don't think anyone would have accepted that we had a chance in hell for a serious relationship in college…but put two people close enough together for long enough to start to see the _true_ other person, where you can answer that question of 'who are you'…and sometimes, the answer can be surprising".

That answer greatly disturbed Asuka for a reason she didn't quite understand, but before she could open her mouth to continue, she heard a rattle and spun to see the doors to the shopping center retracting into the roof and the crowd start to run inside.

"Scheiße!" Asuka cursed, spinning away from Kaji to Misato. "Alright! Lets do this thing!" Asuka ordered, ready to grab Rei and sprint for the beauty salon to get makeovers…except for one little thing.

She didn't know where it was.

"Misato, where is-"

"Right this way!" Misato grinned, before she saw Rei in a far too calm mood simply looking at them. Turning back to her, Misato raised an eyebrow and understanding came quickly to Asuka, stepping around to take one arm and left Misato the other, pulling the surprised First Child into motion as they sprinted inside, pulling her near manically along as they raced through the almost deserted shopping center, their escorts working to keep up with the energetic women as they finally arrived at their goal.

The 'Beauty Complex' was a large, all in one facility that offered everything to tend to a woman's needs. From facials to nails to massages to haircuts to whatever else one might want or need.  
"Greetings" the woman on the counter started to say as the trio arrived, probably the first customers of the day, but Asuka was far too excited to exchange the usual pleasantries…she always got this way when spending money.

"We need everything, the works, for all three of us!" she smiled widely.

"Certainly" the woman said in a slight tone that wasn't _quite _condescending, but definitely sounded as if she found it a trifle difficult to believe these two kids and…their friend -clearly too young to be their mother- none of whom she had seen before could afford such a service. "For all three of you? That will be six hundred thousand Yen".

The counter clerk was clearly expecting them to stop, talk among themselves and then ask for a more reasonable service, but Asuka took a great delight in taking out her NERV ID card and handing it over. It had been reconfigured by the local MAGI system after she had first arrived at the security barrier to the Geofront, forcing her to insert her card into a reader for thirty seconds, rather then just swipe it like she normally would. A program had run in the background as she logged in, updating her file to formally transfer her from NERV-3 to NERV-Central, doing all the 'housekeeping' to update her address, transferring the balance of her German account to a local Japanese account NERV had opened and reformatting her card as a Japanese EFPTOS capable 'smart card', giving her a general ID card and unlimited access to public transport, one of the perks of being an Eva pilot.

But it was unusual to say the least that a fourteen year old Girl would have such a card. They were not exactly _rare _in Tokyo-3 for obvious reasons, but they were also not so prevalent that they were a very common sight.

The sales clerk swiped the card and 600,000 yen was promptly debited from Asuka's account, which currently stood at six and a half million. The clerk raised an eyebrow and handed it back, making a shrewd guess at just _who_ these two children were from rumors that circulated about the pilots of those robots that fought those monsters...

"Please, accept my apologies for my tone" she said in that formal Japanese apologetic way that Asuka's European mind still found confusing as she handed back the card, gesturing to a series of chairs just inside. "Please take a seat, our people will be with you in a minute". Without a word, she led the group back into a small, but very well appointed waiting room as another sales rep took her place on the front counter, before she vanished through one of several doors from the room.

The store manager was just finishing her own daily routine to open up when the front desk receptionist walked in and in a terse thirty second conversation, told her what she suspected about the first customers of the day.

Swiftly, the manager left her room to the staff break room, where the several dozen strong employee force for today was getting ready, snapping orders of exactly what she expected of her staffs performance for the first customers, before telling the receptionist to call and rearrange the day's schedules as needed.

Though as one would expect by the rules of Japanese culture, the manger would never confront or inquire the truth from 'her' customers, she trusted the receptionist and agreed with her conclusions, greeting the her first customers of the day with a deep bow and asking them to follow into the next part of the large, modern complex. Two of the customers, a young girl with beautiful red hair and an older –but still young- women moved with barely concealed enthusiasm, while the third obediently followed with a curious expression as they sat down and removed their shoes, letting teams of elite Pedicurists and Manicurists get to work.

Nothing but the best for these heroes, was now the standing order of the day.

* * *

Asuka, as a student of beauty –namely her own- was very familiar with the various techniques and methods to generate a good pedicure and she was thus able to recognize experts when she saw them.

Even so, they took the time to complement her on the condition of her nails as they refined her work. Poor Misato's nails were –understandably perhaps- half destroyed from 'tension induced nibbling' as the technician delicately put it.

None the less, they did a very impressive job in cleaning the mess up in even Asuka's opinion. And while Misato was still having her fingernails repaired, Asuka was enjoying a small set of Acrylic nails being carefully joined to her own, then painted a beautiful, glossy red that looked identical to the finish on Unit Two. Unfortunately, she had to pass on the longer and, in her mind, more elegant nails, but quickly realized there was little chance they would ever fit into a plug suit without snapping…and that just wouldn't do at all. Though she made a mental note to talk to Doctor Akagi, to see if there was any way to alter a plug suit to better accommodate extended nails…even though she had a feeling the answer would be 'go away Asuka, I'm working' or something equally chilly.

Still, even with the addition of the new fingernails the other two had declined, Asuka was 'finished' first, allowing her to sit back and sigh in pleasure, admiring the reflection of the lights in the room on her newest features, wondering idly if these could be 'mature' enough to tease Kaji back towards her…

_Probably not_, she admitted to herself in a dispassionate moment of intellectual honesty, before her emotions kicked back in and overruled logic.

_But it might be a first step on that path_…

Finally though, the other two were done, Rei interestingly taking the longest. Although her nails were in somewhat reasonable condition, their lack of shaping and any real attention had necessitated the most effort…but Asuka approved of the suddenly gleaming nails that stood out, Rei herself appearing to be fascinating with the effect of light shimmering on them…

This is not an unpleasant outcome" Rei finally said after her meticulous inspection was complete, looking up to smile slightly at them. "I believe this was quite an…enjoyable experience" she then stated to them, before turning to reach for her neatly placed shoes and socks.

"Hold it" Asuka ordered with a frown at Rei's actions, "where do you think _you're_ going?"

"We are finished" Rei said to her, like she was pointing out the most obvious thing in the world.

_Holy hell, Rei really _is _utterly clueless _Asuka thought in shock, before she shook her head and a grin worked its way onto her face. Well, she was in for a shock over the next parts of the services she had selected with the clerk, walking over to the confused looking First.

"Finished? Oh Rei, you're priceless. Come on, we've barely started!" she said, firmly but gently taking her by the wrist and leading her into the next room, following the demure looking young Japanese lady who was 'in charge' of their group, as she passed through a 'bead door' into into a room filled with another half dozen people and three small 'tables', separated by screens, though the room looked like it had been partitioned from a much larger room.

Oh she _loved _a good massage. NERV in Germany as part of her ongoing physical training had had a staff of physical therapists who often after a particularly strenuous session had helped her into a state of relaxation, but it had been almost a year since she had actually needed one.

"This" she declared as she let go of Rei's hand and headed for the nearest 'bed' come table, "is the best part". Rei looked a little confused, but obediently moved to the next table in line after a polite gesture from the people there, with Misato heading for the furthest away. Asuka slowly stripped out of her clothes, painstakingly careful in folding them into a near pile next to her shoes which had been brought in from the next room, until she was in her underwear. Lying face down on the _very _comfortable table, she reached nimbly behind her to removed her bra, slide it off the front and toss it in the general direction of her clothes, feeling a thick towel then placed across her backside. The slightly cool air caused her skin to slightly break out in Goosebumps, followed by a slight giggle as she felt her nipples harden slightly.

"Chilly in here isn't it?" Misato called out at her giggle in a slightly naughty voice, causing a sudden feeling of shock to pass through Asuka's mind and her head to spin to the right and only seining the Japanese style folding screen there, turning back to the downward 'hole' headrest, which looked at a currently switched off plasma TV. No, there was no way that Misato could possibly have guessed that was what she was laughing at…could she?

Any further speculation was halted as Asuka suddenly felt a thick oil dribble onto her skin, making her shiver slightly, before a pair of delicate, but firm hands pressed into her back and started to work her muscles, the oil quickly spreading to reduce frication. Asuka felt her muscles tense slightly at the contact before she forced them to relax and let the hands, soon joined by two more on her right leg, do their work.

She however, was not passive and started soon to give out instructions as the 'itch' started to come, areas that just begged for attention from the hands and her orders were instantly followed, though the pleasurable spasms that soon started to run through her muscles tended to limit them to grunts of 'higher', 'lower', 'left', 'right' and repetitive demands of 'Harder!', followed by deep moans when they hit 'the spot'.

Though soon even _that_ stopped as she let the relaxing and pleasurable hands slowly rub her into a light doze…

_She was lying on her futon in the living room with Shinji next to her as they both vainly tried to get to sleep after a days hard training on that accursed dance machine. Granted, they had made quite good progress after they had finally started to settle into some kind of synchronization, but both of them had been too tired after a day of simulated Eva vs Angel combat in which Misato and Akagi hadn't cut them the slightest slack, simulating Angel attacks with the known five Angels, but variations that moved faster, hit harder and even attacked in teams themselves, forcing the pilots to work together._

_And after a few false starts, they really _had _started to work together in their group of three machines with, naturally, herself proving to be the perfect leader of the group, but still just a part of the whole team who fought as one. _

_Pleased with their performance, Misato had let them off easy with only an hour of that stupid dance machine, before they had been allowed to crash to bed early, feeling a little tired and sore from their long, long day._

_Except for the slight problem that they couldn't sleep._

_Her muscles ached from the workout they had received over the day, despite her careful regimen of warmup and cooldown exercises. They didn't ache so much to hurt, but the ache was almost universal and immensely distracting to her attempts to get some damn sleep._

_After half an hour of trying, she rolled over in disgust onto her back and sighed, glancing at Shinji across from her. Misato, denying such an early end to the nights work, had headed back in to NERV for some reason or another, leaving them alone. It was a remarkable statement on how confident she was they could be trusted to look after themselves, when Asuka thought about it…_

'_Shinji'_

_There was no response._

'_Shinji' she said slightly more insistently, turning her head this time to look at him._

_Still no response…though now she could see the headphones to that primitive SDAT of his._

Ah, easy to fix_ she thought, reaching over and plucking an earphone out, causing him to jump slightly and turn in surprise, before he removed the other and paused his tape._

'_What?' he asked in a tone of tired annoyance._

'_My back is aching' she complained._

'_Well, go have a shower or something. What do you expect me to do about it?'_

'_Well, you could rub my shoulders'._

'…_Asuka, the last male to touch your shoulders -who wasn't Kaji- was down in the nurses office for the rest of the day'._

'_He didn't ask' she pointed out in a reasonable tone. 'And he was a creep with too high an opinion of himself'._

'_Oh?' he asked with a raised eyebrow. 'So then, what am I?'_

'_Oh your still a stooge' she said freely with a hint of a smile on her face. 'But a _good _class of stooge. And if you trust me enough to hit an Angel with a positron cannon classified as a weapon of mass destruction and not _you _when I'm watching _your _back, then I think I can trust you to touch _mine, when I ask you to'.

'_Well…fair point I guess' he admitted, removing his earplugs. 'So, why _should_ I when I want to just get to sleep?'_

'_Because as my teammate, you should respect my needs and accede to them in the interests of the team'._

_She could tell that this logic wasn't quite enough for a dubious Shinji, so she shrugged._

'_Or because if I_ don't _get this under control somehow, I'll probably have a_ very _bad night which means _you'll_ have a very bad night which means _I'll _be ticked off tomorrow morning. And you don't want that'._

_There was a moments silence._

'_I'm not getting out of this am I?' he asked._

'_No' she agreed._

_He sighed, but edged up. 'Well…what do I do?'_

_Asuka rolled over towards him, onto her stomach. She was wearing rather little, just a yellow T-Shirt and some shots, neither without anything on under them and without ceremony, hiked her shirt up._

'_Uh Asuka, you don't have a bar on'._

'_Congratulations Baka, you don't need glasses' she muttered into the pillow under her mouth. 'Now, start with my shoulders'._

_Slowly, hesitatingly, Shinji reached over and lightly pressed his fingers into her shoulders, moving them in circular motions. Impatient, Asuka had barked out for him to press harder, then again and again until finally, he was sufficiently annoyed by her insults that he didn't have a clue what he was doing, he really _did _press harder, eliciting a moan from her that surprised both of them, but Asuka put behind them as she directed him to go lower…and lower…and lower…until she was sure his face was as Red as her Evangelions paint job, his fingers in contact with the waistband on her pants…_

'_Ohh that's so good' she murmured in a silky voice as his hands danced up and down her back, rapidly soothing the tension that had built up all day…the, surprisingly, she felt his hands almost daringly edge to the side of her back, towards her breasts. Her heart stopped as she felt the fingers tantalizingly get closer…and closer…then stop, right on the edge of her suddenly hot feeling 'female attributes'-_

'_Don't stop Baka she hissed as the rather pleasurable feelings cut off with the cessation of his hands. _

_She felt his hesitation at her order like a heavy blanket in the air…then ever so slowly, as if expecting a counter order, he started up again…his fingers slowly descending away from her back…and a primal, electrical feeling starting to surge as they moved down her sides, lower…and lower…and _lower-

Asuka snapped her eyes open with a gasp as the hands ceased their motions, snapping her out of her day dream like a switch had been thrown.

_Mien Got, _she thought in horror. Okay, Sexual tension between people forced into a close environment like her and Shinji, was one that.

But _THAT kind of dream…_

And to her shock, she found that much of the 'primal feelings' she had felt had _not_ gone away when she woke up…the 'pointy end of the twins' feeling almost numb with pleasure-

_Oh of course _she thought in sudden, pure relief. _That makes sense, they were 'excited' by the cold by the time I lay down, then as I was massaged, they were rubbed against the fabric of this bed and got stimulated…and the rest was just my mind making up some dream based on current events, nothing about it at all!_

_Sure, you just keep thinking that _that frigen voice chuckled from the depths of her mind once again.

Ignoring it, she got up and luxuriated in the feeling on her toned, firm muscles feeling relaxed and loose, feeling yesterdays efforts on that thrice cursed dance machine wiped out as she belted on the offered robe, taking care to not tighten it too much…the last thing she wanted was the blasted thing rubbing against her breasts again, as her arousal faded behind the bliss of her muscles. Nodding in approval and thanks at the two women already packing up who offered respectful bows, she stepped around the screen to find Misato in her own robe looking in amusement at Rei, who remained on the table and unresponsive.

"I think she's asleep" Asuka muttered from Rei's left, crossing her arms as she gazed down at the breathing, but otherwise unresponsive First Child, trying not to gaze _too _much at her perfect skin. Its tone was a little too light for her, but it wasn't as if she was an albino or anything. More then a few girls would kill for skin like that...

Not Asuka, she was proud of _her_ perfect skin after all. But with just a little effort, she might be able to turn Rei into someone who looked as special as she really was.

After all, an Evangelion pilot was_ by_ _definition_ one of the, if not the, most special person in the world, one in a billion, give or take. And it was about damn time Rei started to be treated like that!

"Be nice Asuka" Misato chided her, reaching down to lightly tough Rei on her shoulder. "Rei, it's time to move on".

Rei slowly responded, raising her head first out of the headrests and slowly opening her scarlet eyes to look around, apparently unconcerned with the way her breasts were on display to her teammate and superior officer –which was good considering the next room- and arched her back with the slightest of shuddering breaths. After a few seconds, she nimbly swung her legs up and across to sit on the bed, letting Misato put her own robe on her before she stood, tied it off and took a deep breath in, with an odd look on her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked, feeling a slight concern at the state of her fellow pilot's suddenly almost fragile looking state.

"I am…content" Rei replied with a slight smile at her.

_Interesting choice of words_ she thought, but Asuka shrugged –good enough- and headed for the next room with Rei following obediently after her as they passed through a pair of quite thick glass doors, into a humid large, dimly lit room.

The large spa was the size of a small swimming pool, bubbling with a veritable cocktail of chemicals and finished with a 'rocky' look as it was sunken into sandstone tiles, albeit smoothed off and with a slick surface inside hidden under the rampage of bubbles. Rei, to Asuka's faint surprise, unceremoniously dumped her robe, then her underwear and stepped in, almost looking eager to get into the water…and finally confirming Asuka's somewhat embarrassing question of if blue _was _Rei's natural color.

Deciding to follow her example, Asuka also dumped her robe and underwear and splashed down into the water, followed by Misato. She caught an odd looking scar on Misato's chest for a second, but it vanished as she hit the writhing, bubbling water and Misato leaned back, sighing in pure relaxation.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" she asked her guardian as she closed her eyes.

"Uh huh" she agreed. "You kids just get the honor of risking your lives to kill the Angels. _I _get the singular honor the Commander and Vice Commander devolved to me to do all the paperwork cleaning up the messes you, Shinji and Rei make".

"Well why can't you devolve the responsibility?" she asked, enjoying the bubbles writhing and bursting against her skin by the thousands.

"Can't" she sighed. "UN regulations require someone of my rank to deal with the aftermath of each of these skirmishes. Everyone from signing some stupid report on how many shells the defensive buildings fired to Ritsuko's repair bills to the rocket fuel for those Eva transports…it takes a week to really finish the battle, even after the Angel is dead".

"I had no idea" Asuka said in some surprise and even a little sympathy, then she realized the last two Angels attacking timeline...  
"Oh man, the last two Angels attacked only a couple of days apart" she breathed.

Misato chuckled at that, and it was the chuckle of a cat who had finally found the cream…

"Oh that's okay. Actually, the UN fleet had to deal with almost all of the paperwork for your first battle and you two managed to blast the Seventh on the shore away from Tokyo-3, so the paperwork was only a tiny fraction of what it would normally be. Hell, since you came, my job has actually become easier".

"Heh, well I am to please" she shrugged, trying to think of a way to ask her about that scar…when she suddenly noticed a series of items laid out carefully at the edge.

"Oh looky, we got these cool things!" she said, leaning out to pick up three pairs of orange, oversized gloves up. She tossed one set to Misato, who looked at them and shrugged, placing them to the side and shutting her eyes, lying back with a content sigh.

_Well._

_No help there._

So instead she tossed a pair to Rei, who stared and fiddled with them curiously as she swam over.

"Okay, you do my back and I'll do yours" Asuka ordered, knowing that it was damn near impossible to properly do ones back. And with all that oil from the massage pressed into her skin, she wanted this done right.

"I…do not..." Rei hesitated, causing Asuka to roll her eyes to the roof. Okay, baby steps then.

"Okay okay". "Look, I'll do _your _back first then, pay attention then do mine, okay?"

"Understood" Rei agreed, turning to present her back. Carefully, she maneuvered up next to Rei, marveling in the softness of her skin as her thighs lightly brushed against hers as she squirted a measure of the exfoliating body wash onto Rei's back, watching a charming shiver in response, before gently at first, then more and more briskly worked with the gloves to exterminate the upper layers of her epidermis. It only took a few minutes and then she stopped, turning and impatiently commanding Rei to do _her_ back, so then they could separate and work on the rest of their bodies in private.

Rei obediently squirted a measure of the same body wash onto her back and used the gloves to work her skin…

And while she did at least an adequate job, better then she could have done with her own hands, she continually hesitated and got distracted, not able to work a consistent motion up. She just wasn't as skilled as she was, unfortunately...though that held true for most people when compared to her.

No matter, eventually Asuka declared it good enough and retired to Misatos end of the pool to leave Rei in peace, only occasionally having to wake Misato before she slid in and started to drown as she worked the rest of her body lightly.

* * *

An hour or so later, Asuka was leaning over a sink with her eyes shut, feeling the light jet of water systematically moving down her face and washed off the layers of facial chemicals applied to her face, followed by a soft, absorbing towel that patted it dry carefully and gently. Finally however, a voice told her she could open her eyes and she complied, blinking as she stood. A mirror was offered by one of the women and Asuka accepted it, looking carefully over her face at close range.

Oh man she was looking_ hot._

She took good care of her face, but the systematic treatments by professionals had imparted a _glow _to her face, without the slightest blemish showing.

Grinning and infecting the normally somber and calm technician with the same grin, she handed the mirror back and bowed, before stepping around the sink and the chair she had sat in for the last hour, to enter the tiny changing room that sat open with her clothes sitting nearly folded on the bench.

She removed her second robe and hung it on a convenient hook, before dressing again, careful not to disrupt her clothes. This whole makeover was only part one of the day, after all and it wouldn't do to get them wrinkled.

Fortuantly, the people here had handled her clothes with great care and she soon looked identical to when she had dressed this morning.

Well, except for the even _more _perfect skin, glowing scarlet fingernails and slightly mussed hair.

Though the later should only be a problem for a short time, as she did her best to straighten it out, the bath of chemicals in that spa probably not the best for it.

Smiling at the reflection in the small mirror, she exited the room and found both Rei and Misato dressed; Misato looking pretty much the same as always, if quite happy at how their day was going so far.

Rei's at first glance looked to be the same as she had always been in the week or so Asuka had known her - albeit with her skin now all but glowing, but a closer look showed her eyes were focused on almost nothing and she had wrapped her arms around her chest, shivering slightly as she ran her hands gently up and down her arms.

The sight was slightly disturbing to Asuka for some reason, but she shrugged as she emerged and jumped into place near the other two women.

"Well, are we having fun yet Rei?" Asuka asked, actually hoping the answer was yes. As much as _she _was enjoying today, it _was _technically about taking Rei shopping after all. This side trip was just because Asuka had decided decisive action was needed after seeing the condition of Rei's skin and hair.

_Then_ they could go shopping.

"Yes…" Rei admitted to her, which caused Asuka to sigh tollerntly, but Misato to raise an eyebrow at Rei's frank admission of enjoyment…

"Oh lighten up" Asuka said, stepping closer to Rei, not realizing this was probably about as 'light' Rei had gotten in a rather long time. "The question is, what are we going to do with _this…_style" she finished, barely stopping from using other words that came to mind as she looked at the all but 'tomboy' haircut.

"Oh, I know someone who might be able to help" Misato said as they were led into the next and final room.

"Misato!" a man with an odd accent said in surprise and delight, all but floating across the room to the Captain as Misato skipped forward with a big grin on her face, taking her hands in his as both leaned in an 'air kissed' the others cheeks to Asuka's amusement, her 'Gaydar' exploding as she studied the person.

This guy was just about every stereotype of the European male beautician rolled into one, from the violent, bright purple shirt, to the braid to the Italian loafers…Ironically, she had never seen such a person in her own travels around Munich or Berlin, yet halfway around the world in the first place she stepped into…

"Hey there Francesco" Misato said happily. "I brought some friends with me".

"So I see" he said, gesturing the two girls forward, Asuka obediently stepping up quickly, Rei following somewhat more sedately, causing Asuka to be the first target of the mans interested look.

"Oh wow, I mean _wow;_I _love _the hair" he said in appreciation. Asuka let a slightly impish smile fall across her face and rotated with a surprising grace to let her still loose hair fly around before striking an all too 'cute' pose for the stylist, who sighed.

"Yeah, where were you fifteen years ago? If I was like twenty years younger and attracted to the opposite gender, I would _so_ ask you out" he said causing Asuka to giggle slightly.

She had never been hit on by a gay man after all…at least she _hoped _he was gay.

Otherwise, he was dead.

"Hmm" Francesco said with a raised eyebrow as Asuka waited in front of him, suddenly feeling an irrational nervousness at being judged by this man as he tapped his foot, before he reached out to lightly push the side of her head. Asuka went with the feeling, tilting her head slightly as he studied her hair closely before he backed off with a smile. "I'm thinking…take an inch off the length, trim this fringe back and…really, _really_ straighten it out?"

'It just looks…really…really…stunning…'

_Well, he may be a Baka…but that complement came from the heart. And damn it, I _do _look good._

"Can…can you put it back into something like a braid or ponytail?" she inquired almost hesitatingly, wondering

"Oh I love that" he breathed in almost a giddy voice at the shear _gall _of the idea, turning to a Japanese woman waiting patiently and calmly. "Aki, that whole braid thing you have going, I expect magic! Take a seat and hold on Girl, you're in for a wild ride!"

The next hour again passed quickly, though still very pleasantly as she struck up a conversation in German with this Francesco, who spoke with the slightest accent she guessed placed him as an Austrian, a delighted hairdresser confirming this as he also guessed her Prussian heritage, the two chatting away about all manner of things from 'their' neck of the woods, as this Aki girl firmly worked her hair with a will.

"So" he finally asked as he started to hack away at Rei's hair in a blur of motion, his eyes not leaving his client as he worked his 'magic', "you're a long way from home, what are you doing in Japan?"

"Exchange student" she supplied her primary cover story with a smile to him.

Stupid story, everyone would know soon enough who she was. And how was she, a College graduate supposed to maintain the pretence of a school kid anyway?

"Ahh" he said in interest at her story. "I'm surprised, given the cost of air travel these days, that you came this far".

"Well it wasn't an air trip" Asuka said truthfully. "We, uh me and my chaperone, came down the Trans Siberian Railway and took a…ship from Vladivostok".

No need to say she had in fact been chaperoning an Evangelion and the 'ship' was the flagship of most of the combined UN fleet…

That trip had been somewhat crazy. NERV or the UN had, with remarkable foresight, upgraded the Trans Siberian in the years since Second Impact to the new 'super-heavy' grade of railway track, quite a task for the longest railway in the world. The official reason was to provide a backbone for massive cargo shipments from Europe to the newly viable resource fields in the post Second Impact Siberia and back again…but it had also meant the super-heavy flatbed trucks could, just, lug Unit Two across the European continent from the Berlin terminus to the Russian East coast. The only other alternative, that of using an Evangelion 909 transport was viable, but would take roughly forty Airbus A380-T tankers spread evenly across the distance to support it, a cost that had been deemed patiently unnecessary with the railway. It would be a pinch, but it was good enough.

Though the cost of the total loss of a third of the combined UN fleet in the effort however, would probably skew future UN thinking over the airborne delivery vector…

This was a pity as she had quite enjoyed her trip over the wilderness in the train…

Finally, Aki declared her work finished, causing Francesco to bustle over and inspect the work for himself, before sighing in pleasure and declaring it finished, holding up a mirror for Asuka to view in _her _mirror.

Her fringe was loose, scattering over her forehead and down to her eyes with darker highlights running through it that gave her a wonderfully dangerous look, but the rest of her hair had been neatly bound into a single, elegant French braid to just about where her high collar rested, and from there was a loose splay tied off with her red ribbon, the hair revitalized with a hurried wash and highlighting treatment…

And damn, it looked_ good_.

_Why in the hell didn't I ever think of something like this before? _She wondered, making a note to at least…well…_acknowledge_ Shinji for the idea…even if she should rightly take credit for moving it to its logical conclusion.

Shrugging, she pushed her way through the doors smiling at the staff who collectively bowed at her, to the slight confusion of the now packed reception area. Misato was just outside, her hair turned into a rippled wave that cascaded loosly down her shoulders and back. In an amusing irony, Misato had abandoned her ponytail style just as Asuka had taken it up.

"Hey, that looks great" Misato complemented her.

"You too" she nodded back. "Rei is going to be longer, he had just finished the last washing when I had left.

"Might be a good time ot get her something to put before we go shopping" Misato pointed out.

"That's not a bad idea" Asuka admitted, noting that time _was _getting on and nodding at what she recognized as a reasonably priced general clothing store for girls her age, already busy with a bustling traffic of girls, half of whom needed to loose about ten percent of their body mass before stepping through the doors, but well, if they wanted to wear clothes utterly unsuited for them, that just made _her_look better…

A quick but expert raid by the two women soon had a selection of clothes that Asuka wondered if they weren't a trifle too daring for the rather timid Rei, but Misato assured her that Rei _wasn't _timid in any way, just quiet.

After thinking back on the utterly unashamed way Rei had disrobed without a seconds thought, Asuka admitted that Misato might have something there…

They paid for their purchases and reveled in the envious looks from nine out of the ten women in the store at their fresh makeovers, great clothes and hot bodies, before walking back to the Beauty Center, Asuka bounding back inside with the bags.

Her timing was equisite, finding Rei heading for-

Woah.

_THAT _was _REI?_

Her hair was amazingly exotic, a loose thin fringe reaching to her eyes creating a barrier between her deep scarlet eyes and adding yet more mystery to the young woman, while a far more thinned out top, that _looked_disorderly in a paradoxically orderly way gave her fifteen times the personality, two thin waves reaching down either side of her face to bracket it.

_Wow _was the thought that came to her mind at the different person in front of her.

But it would take more then that to eliminate her equilibrium.

"Oh hey, you finished! Perfect! Look I got you some clothes to change into, before we go shopping. I looked outside and well, there are so many people around today, I didn't want you to be seen in that damn uniform while we're shopping!"

"You went shopping…so I can go shopping?" Rei asked with a raised eyebrow that was _so _Rei it shattered the illusion the haircut created.

_Yup, that's Rei_ alright.

"What are you, Shinji's Sister or something?" she muttered, recalling the exact same confused question from the Third Child earlier, rolling her eyes with a sigh. So she still had a way to go…but _this _was a huge improvement, soon to become a quantum leap.

"Look, just put these on" she said, shoving the bags into her hands, then turning to the other person in the room. "Hey Francesco, can Rei just use you're change room, real quick?"

"Honey, knowing your fashion sense, Rei can use it for as long as she likes" he said back as he packed away his tools, getting a grin from Asuka and a blush from Rei as the Second pushed the First into the room and shut the door.

After Rei was safely ensconced, Asuka stepped over to Francesco and feeling oddly bold, gave him a hug.

"Thank you" she said simply. "She looks…well.."

"Hot?" he supplied.

"Well getting there" she grinned. "Wait till you see her come out…" she left it hanging as she stepped out for the last time, enjoying the way her hair moved and felt…

"You give the clothes to Rei?" Misato asked as she rejoined her a hundred meters or so away casually browsing through some clothes racks, the quartet of Section Two agents looking rather miserable, each holding a pair of bags Misato explained was filled with basic necessities for Rei.

Ah, Misato had already dragged them through the women's hygiene section of that chemist a few doors down.

Damn, she had really wanted to see that…

"Yup" Asuka nodded.

"I hope they weren't_ too _much of a change for her" Misato said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh relax, its all good" Asuka said in a dismissive tone that slightly worried Misato.

"Well I hope so" her guardian replied, now second guessing her impulsive earlier decisions. "This is supposed to be a day about bonding with her; I'd rather not start a feud that might explode into 'Evangelions at dawn' or something".

"We're allowed to duel in our Evas?" Asuka asked in genuine interest.

Perhaps she could work out that 'frustration' with Shinji by beating his Eva to a pulp…

"Well…no, but we might find some kind of simulation model or something…later" Misato shrugged, giving up on the clothes and walking out to the railing that circled this level of the long rectangular building and looked down to the ground floor one level below. "But we have a whole heap of training simulations where you'll learn to work together in pairs with both Shinji and Rei, with a third providing fire support in turn and I'd rather not have you or her start shooting each other in the back in front of the Commander".

"Yeah..." Asuka said, glancing down over the railing they were both leaning against, "do you know much about him?"

"The Commander? A bit" Misato said carefully. What do you want to know?"

"I just…do you know what happened between him and Shinji?" she asked.

Misato raised an eyebrow, but looked away as she thought about how much she could tell Asuka without violating carefully placed Shinji's trust.

"You really would have to ask Shinji about that Asuka" Misato said, before sighing slightly. "But all I can tell you…Shinji doesn't consider him his Father. Oh he acknowledges the biological fact…but for all intents and purposes, he is alone in this world, he doesn't have any family. Except for us and his few friends and frankly, that's why I need you to get on with him and Rei, to learn to work together. I…can't tell you about what happened to his Mother, but you two are more alike then you-"

"He told me" Asuka said shortly. "I…I made a stupid joke about this time when we were together as kids he told me about…and he told me all about what had happened to his Mother…"

Alarm bells went off in Misato's head as Asuka slowly turned her face to Misato.

"What happened to his Mother…it…" she took a deep breath "it was the same thing, more or less, that happened to mine, wasn't it?"

_How in the hell did I end up in the middle of _this _minefield without a map? _Misato wondered in amazement. _Perhaps I'm drinking too much…no…wait, I haven't had a beer in three days…perhaps I'm not drinking enough?_

_Confusing. I'll have to ask Ritsuko._

"Misato?" Asuka repeated, sounding more insistent this time.

"Asuka…you know I hadn't joined NERV until long after what happened to both your Mothers" Misato hedged.

"That isn't answering my question" she pointed out.

_God damn German University courses on logic! _She thought about just lying through her teeth…but damn it, how could she, her guardian and CO for less then a week betray her trust like that by dodging the hard questions?

"Look, Asuka…all I know is from some coffee talk with Akagi after Shinji arrived and confronted his Father and _no _I am not going to tell you what happened there-"

"He told me" Asuka said again to Misato's exasperation, that he was opening up so quickly to Asuka and still so closed to her…

"But did you tell _him_?" Misato challenged her. "About your Mother?"

"…No" Asuka admitted after a long, drawn out silence in a low voice. "I…I wanted to...but…I just…couldn't".

"You know, he's probably going to kill me for telling you this, but I never told him anything about you" Misato said after a few seconds of Asuka clearly wrestling with her inner demons.

"But…on the_Rainbow_, when you, he and the stooges got off the-"

"I know" Misato shrugged slightly. "I have no idea how he learned what he did about you or why he _said _that I always talked about you, but it didn't come from me. I intended you all to be a surprise for him and hadn't told him anything more then your name once, in passing. No offense intended

"None taken" Asuka murmured as her perception of Shinji changed yet again…

He was like a rubix cube. Every time she thought she had come closer to understanding an aspect of him, another side of him mutated…

"I'm not putting you through this team training for the fun of it" Misato continued. "As a pilot, tell me, honestly please Asuka…when Shinji told you to go for the core of the Seventh, were you thinking of him at all? Working with him?"

"No" she admitted after several long seconds of surprisingly honest thought, in an even more sotto voice.

"You've seen the combat replay, seen how he matched you step for step, move for move, without you even noticing. I have no idea how he did that and frankly, neither does Ritsuko; he's _never_ done anything like that in the simulations, not even with Rei…just you". Misato turned to face Asuka who was looking at her out of the corner of her eyes. "If you can work and learn to do the same with him Asuka, then Rei with the both of you and vice versa, able to predict each others moves and cover each others backs…then you might just save me from having to write to your Father and Step Mother some time and explain how _I_ got _you_ killed, because my pilots were not working together".

Asuka chewed that remark down in silence, finally starting to see why Misato, Kaji and the Vice Commander were pushing so hard to get her and Shinji –and Rei to a lesser extent- working together with that crazy DDR crap, along with more conventional Evangelion simulations.

"And the team is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain" she thought, without realizing she had said it out loud until Misato without warning, reached over and hugged her tightly.

"You've grown a lot in a few days Asuka" Misato said simply. "I'm so proud of you".

It was all Asuka could do not to violate her promise to never cry…at least not in public, as she hugged Misato back, then from her position caught sight of someone.

"Uh…is that Rei?" she asked, in a tone of some degree of awe…

Misato let go and turned, her jaw dropping as a girl in a stunning white singlet top, short charcoal skirt just under knee length with blue leggings as bright as her hair _strutted _–there was no other word for it- across the lower level ground floor with such an air of confidence that Asuka was left speechless, watching as numerous males their age –and more then a few disturbingly above it- stopped and stared, stumbled or just fell heavily to a convenient seat as, with a radiated 'cool' factor of a hundred and fifteen percent, Rei Ayanami moved into some store named Games Workshop, on a beeline for someone Asuka quickly recognized.

"It's the third stooge" she muttered, spotting Aida, but why Rei had made a beeline for their classmate…and how she had changed her entire body language vocabulary like _that _she didn't get in the slightest.

"You uh…didn't slip her any drugs or anything, when I wasn't watching did you?" Miasto asked.

"No!" Asuka spluttered in shock. Misato nodded slowly.

"Well I'm outa ideas for what happened…I think we've either done something very very right, or very very wrong".

"How do we know the difference?" Misato shrugged.

"If we're not demoted to painting every new building in Tokyo-3 when the Commander returns, we'll know" Misato assured her.

* * *

Rei only took a minute inside the store, before she emerged with an –understandably Asuka decided with her first sympathy for the Stooge- shocked looking Kensuke in tow. They talked for another minute or so, before he appeared to somewhat pull himself together and ask Rei something, which she replied with a smile, before, to Asuka's increasing amazement, leaning in to give him a light kiss on the cheek, before spinning and 'strutting' away back towards the stairs. To Asuka's amusement, but again slight understanding, she saw Aida just _stand_ there, stunned, until several of his friends walked out to pull him back in the shop, probably to minimize the risk of someone running into him and knocking him over…

"Hey look, it's the men!" Misato said suddenly in an all too cheerful voice. None the less, Asuka's expression perked up as she saw Shinji and Kaji descend…and got a look at Shinji's new clothes.

Her lips pursed in silent appreciation of his clothes, guessing that it _had_ to have been Kaji's handiwork. She dobuted Shinji could find his way around the clothing store if you gave him a map, a GPS receiver and a guide dog, after all.

He was wearing a high collar charcoal shirt cut rather flatteringly similar to her own blue shirt, but colored almost identical to Rei's skirt –much to her annoyance at both herself, Kaji, Shinji _and _Rei- with a very stylish looking suede jacket over the top, dark, expensive looking jeans and what looked like new desert boots.

Annoyingly, he was also getting quite openly speculative looks from many girls…_no, that had to be Kaji_ she corrected herself at once. Truly annoyingly however, he and Kaji both stopped at the top of the stairs and greeted Rei when she arrived. Asuka didn't feel her fingers slowly strangle the metal railing to little effect as Shinji hugged Rei freely and without hesitation, but she knew enough about body language to see that he wasn't holding her like someone madly in love…it was more the hug a very close friend would give another…almost the hug a brother would give a sister in fact.

It was the only reason she remained in place and didn't stalk over there to…wait, _why_ was she so upset over this?

This was starting to get ridiculous. The sooner she was able to move back out of Misato's, the better.

As a result of her introspection however, she failed to catch Rei's curious look focus on her…

Finally however, Shinji and Rei started back over, Shinji looked both stunned and pleased with the transformation of the First Child before his eyes, though Asuka thought he looked slightly more shell shocked then she would have guessed.

_This is all it takes to break down his walls? Yeash, you're mine Third Child once we get to the swimsuit area…_

"Uh…wow" Misato said as Rei walked up to them, looking twice as hot at close range and even making Asuka feel a little uneasy. She was sure she still looked _better…_but…

"Hmm…not half bad" Asuka admitted, studying the effect and deciding that in a few hours, they had killed Ayanami the schoolgirl and brought out Ayanmi the vixen…

Just like that.

"Can I choose clothes, or _can I_…" she muttered, rhetorically.

"I would be pleased if you continued to do so" Rei smiled slightly in return, before her gaze drifted past to the Section Two agents behind them.

"Oh these are just some fashion accessories for you" Asuka shrugged, dismissing the already significant haul and the equvilant of male hell they had been dragged through to get all of it, God only knows how much of it they had had to carry to the counter with a loudly talking Misato…

"Some things to put in your hair, some hygiene products, beauty products, brushes, clips, ribbons, all the basics…" she listed the items, trailing off as Shinji and Kaji both rejoined them. Asuka squared her stance and faced him with a raised eyebrow, admitting that much like Rei, he didn't look half bad up close in these clothes…almost a Kaji lite…

"Well, I'm impressed. With Kaji's fashion sense to guide you, you don't actually dress up half bad Baka" she admitted publicly.

"And you…well, you'd look amazing no matter how you did your hair…but I really like it" he said in return in a tone that suggested he meant what he said, but desperately didn't want to give any kind of offense, ruining the comparison to Kaji in a heartbeat.

One day you might get a _real _spine Ikari…one day…

"Well of _course_ you do" she finally replied with a roll of her eyes to try and hide to smile she felt at his once again honest compliment of Asuka over the Second Child.

"So, what do _you_ think Kaji?" she asked in a pleading tone, letting her hair flick out and opening her eyes to their maximum 'cute and vulnerable' setting.

"I think you're growing up far to fast" he replied with a gentle but approving smile that carefully dodged the thrust of her question, turning towards Misato with a sloppy grin coming over his face that she just wished he would turn on her _once _in her lifetime, a wrapped package appearing into his hand from nowhere. "And for you, Misato-Chan" -both Asuka and Misato slightly flinched at the honorific- "as a token of my undying esteem. I'll see you all later" he fnished, backing away and vanishing down a nearby stairwell to Asuka's annoyance.

Here for hours with Shinji and barely a few minuites with her. That wasn't very nice of him!

She'd remind him of it later and leverage some 'personal time' with him…

Misato raised an eyebrow and looked at the gift suspiciously, as if she expected it was about to explode before she finally gave in and ripped open the paper.

Inside, was a bright yellow and black book.

"Parenting for Dummies, 4th Edition" the Kanji proclaimed along the top.

Asuka had to work _very_hard to hide the laughter that came out after she finally translated the stupid Japanese characters, managing to reduce it to a kind of shortened snicker as her face went red, taking a good ten seconds to get back under control.

Misato's face on the other hand held her expression for a good five seconds, then she finally looked up and a wry smile came across her face as she smiled with true appreciation for the humor of his gift.

"Funny. I'll have to kill him later of course, but funny".

"They were all out of 'Parenting for Parents with Temperamental Germans" Shinji added lightly with a smirk threatening to make its way onto the edge of his face.

Asuka was delighted.

_So, you _DO _want to play today, do you Third Child? _She asked hopefully in her head.

_So be it!_

Her fist crashed out, albeit only at moderate intensity, crashing into his arm and causing the startled Shinji to jump backwards and rub his arm.

"You've made progress today Third Child" she said in a sweet tone, which was belayed by the slight narrowing of her gaze at him, _willing_ him to melt under it. "Don't push it".

He pushed it.

"Jawohl Mein Fuhrer" he smirked with a slight mocking edge, causing Asuka's threat response programming to ascend to tier two-

"Alright, cool it you two, playtime can wait" Misato broke in, in her 'Operations Director' tone she only used off duty to really get their attention.

_Oh damn it; it was just starting to get fun! _

_Tactics. Examine all blockages carefully. With care, they can be used as counterweights…_

"Well! Now that the Baka has rejoined us, we can finally get this day underway! You four are dismissed" Asuka said, hiding her smile as she let the Section Two agents go without bothering to ask permission –hey she had first called them over, she got to send them packing.

The quartet didn't wait for a countermanding order, dumping their bags at the feet of a surprised Shinji and running for the stairs.

"Hmm. Perhaps we shouldn't have dragged them through the ladies toiletries section after all" Misato frowned, before shrugging and dumping her own bag next to the others…next to Shinji.

"Hey!" Shinji suddenly protested as he realized Asuka's move, glancing up at her in what Asuka could only describe as vengeful admiration.

_Good! The best wars are against an opponent who can see what happens to him…_she cackled inwardly.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she twisted the knife in. "Be a man and get moving!"

She'd say this for him, he knew when to cut his losses and start planning for the next battle. Indeed, a worthy opponent was the Third Child…

He glanced at Rei who, approvingly, offered him not an iota of sympathy, forcing him to sigh and, with dignity, reach down to pick up their purchases.

"Better!" she snapped, getting a warning look from Miasto about taking it _too _far and took it to heart, reaching out to take a grip on Rei's hand followed shortly there after by Misato, leading Rei through a cross passage into the 'main' clothing stores area., a massive multi level, long building, with countless busy shop fronts doing a brisk trade.

"Now" Asuka started, _finally _ready to get down to the business of the day and mentally unfolding a checklist in her mind. "To begin with, we need some casual clothes you can just wear when you're lazing around. Then some 'going out' clothes of various types suitable to various needs, as well as a moderate amount of undergarments and so on".

_Good summery, now to specifics-_

"Going out clothes…this would include clothes to go to a dance?" Rei interrupted oddly. Asuka just shrugged.

"Not really, that's formal fashion, stuff like dresses and…" she paused as she realized Rei didn't generally just ask questions for the sake of it. "Why do you ask?"

Rei raised an eyebrow in confusion, causing her stomach to ice over.

"Because the Summer Dance is only two and a half weeks away" Rei replied, not understanding how this caused the floor to crash out from under Asuka's feet.

"WHAT?" she screeched, noting the disapproving looks on the faces of people around them, but not caring.

Rei, clearly taking her shouted comment literally, tried to repeat herself.

"Because the Summer Dance is only"-

"WHY wasn't I TOLD about this?" Asuka demanded of the world "How long has this been planned? Oh my GOD I don't have anything to WEAR!" she freaked out, realizing she had left her more formal dresses back in Munich…then the more critical problem. "I don't have a DATE!"

Now to find someone to blame.

Her head snapped around to pierce Shinji with an icy stalagmite, causing him to prudently take a step back.

"Why" she asked, "wasn't I informed about this? Oh my God, I don't have a date!" Thinking quickly, she turned from the not _quite _smirking, but clearly working his way there Shinji, to someone more useful. "What about you Rei?"

"I am…taking classmate Aida to the dance".

"That Stooge?" Asuka wondered, kicking herself as she realized exactly what Rei had been doing downstairs earlier with him. "Oh well, I guess he's not as bad as Toji, what Hikari sees in him I have no idea..."

So who the hell could _she _take? Kaji was clearly a non starter and she would _not_ show up alone thank you very much! All the idiots at school who would drop their current dates without question if she asked them to were not worth the time of day from her…and that just left…

"What about you Third Child?" she demanded, turning back again to Shinji, who had placed the bags down and appeared to be frowning at his arm, then looking up in surprise, then a curious and clear unease at Asuka's question. Interested in this hesitation, she was just about to press the attack, when Rei saved her the effort.

"Classmate Tanaka offered to accompany Pilot Ikari to the dance, but he declined and let it be known that he was disinclined to participate in the Summer Dance, to a great deal of disappointment by most of the female classmates in class 3F".

_Shinji had been_ propositioned _by _Tannaka?

Asuka had no time for her nearest competition, coolly acknowledging her looks were not half bad…but she had _nothing _on her intelligence, social abilities or cult following.

Still, she was arguably the number two girl in class, would have been the number one when she asked Shinji…

And then he had let it be known to the _rest _of the girls that he _didn't want to go to probably the crowning social event of the season?_

Oh she knew most of her class had some form of crush on Shinji, something she utterly failed to understand…mostly…but he could have had any of them, well except perhaps Hikari and one or two others with 'steady' boyfriends.

_But…he's free…_

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka demanded of him, now really wanting to know _why_ he hadn't gone. "Why the hell wouldn't you want to go? It's a DANCE"

She saw something snap inside his eyes and he almost glared at her.

"Because I'm not anything like a sociable as you! Because…because I didn't know any of the girls who had offered to go with me at all and didn't want to go just because I was the almighty hero they thought I was, because I don't know how to dance, because I've never been good in those kinds of situations. Happy?"

Asuka…was…a little intimidated by that.

Shinji could have had any attractive Girl on his arm…but he wanted more…and was embarrassed about making a fool of himself, even if he was a hero with a capital H and anyone would be inclined to forgive him _any_ mistakes at a dance…not that their classmates would exactly be experienced either.

More then that, she saw she didn't trust himself, or anyone –then- to be with him either, probably because no-one could know what he had been through and was going through.

Well except _another pilot _of course…

"You really are an idiot" Asuka smiled slightly at him, before, before frowning as if in deep thought. "Well, fortunately for you, your stupidity is also your gain. I need a date, you're it".  
"Wh..what?" Shinji asked, his head arcing around to lock back on hers, his expression suggesting that while he had heard the words, they had been gibberish.

"It's simple. We're already learning to dance together on that damn machine Misato is forcing us to-"

"Asuka" Misato chided her.

"_nice _machine that Misato is _generously loaning us _for our _very _important training_" _Asuka grudgingly corrected herself. "We're learning to dance together anyway, what the hell is a couple of more dances to learn? And besides, I _need _a Date, I can't show up alone! And while I'm sure every boy in our class would probably drop to their face at my feet begging for a chance if I asked them, I'd rather not make an enemy of an 'ex-date' who got dumped for me and…well…you showing up with me can frankly only _help _your social standing significantly" she pointed out in a positive voice. "So, well…I need you, it's that simple. _Any objections?"_

She said the last two words in a tone that suggested _very _dire consequences should there be any, feeling her heart actually skip a beat as she wondered if he would, if he _could _possibly refuse her…

He simply shook his head, his eyes not leaving hers as the slightest ghost of a smile painted onto his face.

"Good!" she declared, hiding her extreme relief as she glanced around. "Well first we'll get Rei's shopping done, then you can go home while I find something to wear. Damn it, so little time!" she fretted once again, hurrying Rei into action as she lead Rei towards the nearest suitable store.

* * *

The rest of the afternoons shopping moved rapidly with the 'preliminaries' out of the way as Asuka methodically moved around first one level, then to Shinji's disbelief, up to the next level and started all over.

Asuka ignored him as she steadily worked down the list to give Rei a comprehensive outfit set of top quality clothes and all the little accessories that went along with them.

It finally got to the point that Miasto called back in the two remaining Section Two agents who had been hanging around the whole time in the background, both looking rather displeased as they were assigned to help Shinji, splitting up his load as the bags continued to multiply.

There were however, several highlights.

Misato's chosen 'reward' dress was sickeningly daring, slit up almost to her damn mid thigh with a low V neckline and thin straps that looked depressingly good on her and would probably get Kaji's attention like Evangelions drew Angels, but she had no choice but to do the honorable thing and pay for it, though Rei was kind enough to split the bill between them.

On the plus side, Misato's provocative purchase left her no wiggle room when Asuka emerged in her chosen swimsuit, a rather 'thin' looking red and white striped bikini that she put on and slowly stalked towards Shinji with, who was sitting down looking a little tired on a nearby lounge.

Flatteringly, her sudden appearance in a garment that left nothing to the imagination as she set her legs on either side of his, her arms supporting her weight by holding the chair on either side of his head as she leaned in to ask 'if he liked it' caused all traces of fatigue to vanish, his face to light up red and a stuttering nonsensical reply to issue from his mouth.

She took that as a 'yes' with emphasis, quietly pleased that as she suspected, the 'twins' were quite effective artillery against him, getting dressed back into her clothes and purchasing it without a second thought.

But that was about it for the day. Mostly because Shinji was starting to complain about the weight and even the Section Two agents were looking increasingly like they might just mutiny and face Gendo's retaliation instead of 'just one more bag'.

Conceding that Shinji had been properly put into place, she called it a day, deciding to head back in the next few days some time to help Rei –and herself- find a dress and any other accessories, after Rei finished moving into her new apartment.

They got back to Misato's care, agreeably close to the door thanks to their early arrival and loaded it up, barley fitting themselves, Rei and the bags inside.

The cars engine didn't appear to notice the extra mass as they screamed through the city.

"So, did you three have fun today?" Misato asked sounding very happy.

"Uh huh, you bet!" Asuka smiled from the shotgun position, pleased with the outcome.

"It was a very pleasant day" Rei agreed from one side of the back seat, her eyes a mystery as for some reason, she just kept stroking her arm…

Shinji on the other hand just grunted, eliciting a smirk from Asuka at him, though his attention appeared to be lost in the far distance…

Faster then even Asuka thought possible however –a factoid she put down to being the weekend with less traffic to dodge around- they arrived at Rei's place and helped –figuratively speaking- Shinji with Rei's purchases up to her room.

_Well, she's done a_ little _cleaning _Asuka noticed as she stepped in, the tons of mail was gone and most of the loose junk was also missing…

But Asuka still wouldn't keep a pet here, let alone a human being, _let along _an Evangelion pilot!

"Well, you'll be out of here in a couple of days" she said, as much to remind herself as well as Rei, thinking of that unused wardrobe and frowning. "So you might want to leave most of this in these bags, no point taking them out and packing them back up again two days later!"

"Understood" Rei nodded.

There didn't really appear to be anything more to say.

"Well, we'll all see you at headquarters tomorrow for the combat simulation training" Misato cheerfully stepped in. "Until then, see you later!"

Asuka led the withdraw down to Misato's car, Shinji rubbing his arms yet again and looking at her in accusation that she returned with a sweet, all too innocent smile as they screamed home.

Shinji pointedly didn't help them this time with _their _purchases, but they were relatively minor and easily carried by the girls, which just rubbed in the point even more of course.

Finally, they arrived, an irate looking Pen-Pen glowering at the tardiness of his roommates and clearly wondering when dinner was going to be started. Asuka actually felt her stomach rumble slightly, realizing with a start that it was only an hour or two till dinner and she had only had a very light lunch that really only qualified as a snack, causing her to go hunting around for some junk food to tide her over till dinner.

"Shinji, if you're not up for cooking, we'll just order in tonight, I think you've more then earned a break" Misato called from her room.

"I'm not arguing" Shinji replied from further down the hall where he was also dumping his purchases. Curiously, he came back out into the room holding that largish A3 sized thing wrapped in paper and having dumped his jacket, just as Misato came out of her own room, changed into a T-Shirt and shorts and kicked off her shoes.

"What's that?" Asuka got in first, pointing to the package as she tore apart a stick of liquorish with her teeth.

"It's a…picture Kaji got me. If its okay Misato, I'd like to hang it on the wall" he said, pointing at an empty hook on the far living room wall, next to the veranda doors.

"Of course you can" she said warmly, "this is your house as much as mine"

"Thanks" he smiled, walking over to the wall. Misato, he curiosity piqued followed as he appeared to hesitate, then ripped the wrapping off and carefully lifted it onto the wall hanging mount. Misato gave it a curious but not that fussed look –then did a double take, her mouth slowly opening in shock…

Then she literally fell to the floor, almost crushing a surprised penguin that scuttled out of the way, laughing so hard she looked to be having trouble breathing as she flailed about on the floor.

Asuka now more then a little intrigued walked out of the kitchen and around, glancing down at the helplessly cackling Misato before looking up at the slightly sheepish Shinji, then at the picture and feeling her breath freeze in her lungs.

Staring back at her was Gendo Ikari.

The picture had to be a real photograph, but it captured the essence of the man Asuka had never met, but seen pictures of and heard much from other NERV personnel and Shinji himself. She could instantly see the resemblance to his Son and vice versa, but utterly alien to any look she had seen on Shinji's face was the expression of utter disdain and contempt, the desire to control and dominate burning in from behind the tinted glasses.

One of his hands in the picture held a mate black gun.

The other, an utterly adorable white kitten, which the gun was pointed at.

PILOT THE EVANGELION! The main caption said in harsh, angular kanji.

_Or the kitten gets it _a smaller and much gentler subtext kanji added.

Within two seconds, Asuka was also laughing, leaning against the wall as she tried to control herself, not having met the commander…and wondering how in the _hell _she was now going to be able to do so, without cracking up…


	12. Three Colors: White

Just to answer a few questions / points made via emails and reviews since this whole thing started...and to offer some commentery.

Asukas hairstyle came mostly from watching End of Evangelion -as in the first half, NOT the second- as Asuka lays into the Mass Production model Evangelions. If you watch her as she duels with one of those blades/hidden lances, her hair often reels around behind her like its in a ponytail or something, so I sort of took it a step further, mostly out of curiosity.

The idea for the 'PILOT THE EVA' picture came from South Park and the 'SIT DOWN! OR THE CUTE LITTLE BUNNY GETS IT!' bus driver. Which lead to Stan and Kyle wondering if the Bus Driver really would follow through with it...and Kyle comment 'Oh she would dude, she WOULD'. Which in turn lead to -for some crazy reason- me thinking about instead of Rei being wheeled out to force Shinji to pilot Unit One, of Gendo glaring, picking up a kitten and telling him to pilot the Eva, or it gets it, Shinji asking Misato if he really would do it and everyone in the Eva bay nodding furiously that yes, he would.  
Clearly, there was something wrong with that chicken I had for lunch.

Mana Kirishima...I had a lot of questions asking if I was going to use her. My first response was 'no'. My second response was who in the hell was Mana Kirishima?  
A friend of a friend had actually brought a copy of Girlfriend of Steel - then downloaded the English fansub version which he lent me. I played through it over a day or so last week, though it very much wasn't a game, more like a lost episode. I appreciated the effort, even if I found a lot of the plot rather stupid. I mean, why would the UN or Japanese Government waste money on the Tridant after the spectacular failure of Jet Alone? Especially after Ramiel proved that brute forcing an AT field just really isn't practical and only an Evangelion can produce an AT field to counter an Angels? Let alone why you would need a frigen 14 year old pilot? The Evas require it...a robot doesn't.

That said, I found Asuka's fuming jealousy utterly delightful...and was stunned by Ganix actually producing a picture of her and Shinji getting THAT close...  
I mean look! Her hands aren't anywhere near his throat...yet.

So in answer to the dozens of emails, yet I will allow Mana Kirishima to make an appearance in this fanfic.  
She will have exactly three lines, be seen once and never be seen again, nor be involved with any super secret Government project...but there you go. I'll figure out somewhere to put her at some point :D

This chapter was the hardest to write.

Asuka as a character, is simple. She's a 14 year old girl going through puberty who sees herself as far older woman, is confused by her feelings towards Shinji even from a rather early point in time -even more so this time around- and half in denial about those feelings, while having deep dark suppressed memories that she lives in denial over, that subtily drive most of who she is.

Rei on the other hand...

Is it that she didn't feel emotions until they were awoken more by being around Shinji and Asuka? Is is that she felt them and ignored them? Is it that she felt them but couldn't express them? Does she know about who she is in terms of Yui and Liliths Genetic material? Does she understand what that means for her interactions with Shinji? Does she have her own soul in addition to that of Liliths she carries? If she she aware of who she is, is it only only Rei III who can manifest the incredible power of her AT field that we saw used against Tabris? And those questions are just the tip of an enormous iceberg which make writing Rei, especially Rei's inner thoughts, difficult. To say nothing of a Rei II being encouraged to think for herself and evolve.

So yeah, its fun and horrible at the same time :)

Anyway, enjoy. You might be able to spot a tiny nod to another Evangelion fanfic, used with permission somewhere in here...

* * *

**Three Colors White**

Rei Ayanami's eyes opened at exactly Seven Thirty AM, as they did just about every morning. It was a routine that had been all but hard coded into her biological clock from an early age. While she _could _over or under sleep this happened rarely, most notably during her recovery after Unit Zero's activation test when discomfort had interrupted her sleep at various random times. The only other time this rhythm had been interrupted had been a sleepless night after Shinji had given her flowers and confronted her with the truth that she was a unique being, who had the power and _right _to make her own choices in life.

Without moving her head, she glanced across at where those flowers had stood until a week ago, shortly before the Second Child had arrived. They had looked rather dead by that point in time but she had been unwilling to simply throw them out, until she had mentioned their state to Pilot Ikari…to, Shinji, in passing.

He had been extremely surprised that she still retained the flowers and had gently told her it was perfectly acceptable to throw them out when they started to 'turn', and although he was very touched that she had kept the flowers this long, the gesture itself was worth far more then their physical presence…especially when they had gotten to the state she had described them in.

_Much like the rest of this apartment _she thought in a rather clinical tone as she glanced around. Residual embarrassment over pilot Soryus horror at the state of her dwelling had led her to make a minimal clean up of the mess, throwing out much of the loose debris such as her old bandages and unopened mail, but there was no doubting that her place was far from clean compared to all other 'homes' she had entered.

Part of her was still somewhat, if not apathetic, then relatively unsure of the sudden changes being forced upon her by her fellow pilots, but a greater part that Shinji had awoken was increasingly confident in her ability to adapt and evolve into them and even looked forward to moving into a clean, new apartment very close to her friends.

First however, she had a different experience to survive.

A shopping experience.

While normally on a Saturday she would head into NERV for various tests, she had been given leave to proceed on this expedition by no less a person then the Vice Commander, when he had summoned her into his office for a talk.

"The Second and Third Children were in here earlier" the Vice Commander said, without preamble. "Both saw your living conditions yesterday and were, to put it mildly, appalled by them".

"Yes Sir" she acknowledged, offering nothing more.

"To put it simply Rei, they have all but demanded that you be moved into a new apartment, one up to proper standards of construction, hygiene and safety. I had no good reason, nor any real inclination to refuse such a request, so, after consulting with the Commander, I have done so".

* * *

It sounded so simple and straight forward to the Vice Commander. 

In fact the Second and Third Child had started a minor crisis. Gendo had been in Geneva –the new home of the UN after the destruction of New York in the Second Impact- where he had been busy in meetings with Keel and the rest of the Committee, as well as a few closed door UN sessions.

Rei however was of such critical importance to Gendos plans that the Vice Commander would have been in far more trouble had he taken such a decision without consulting him.

Of course, there was the slight problem that on even a secure line to UN headquarters SEELE would be listening to every single word and looking for anything that could be used against Gendo, _or, _anything that could threaten _their_ plans. Rei was just as important to _them_ as one of the key components of Human Instrumentality, the container for Liliths very soul. But unlike Gendo, _they_ wouldn't care if any Rei's incarnations became a threat to _Gendo's_ plans by developing a free will. _They _had all the time in the world after the Angels had been terminated to grow another vessel from scratch, loyal to them, kill the Rei's, then use their own pawn for their own plans.

Gendo (and Fuyutsuki) on the other hand knew their window of opportunity would probably be measured in _days_ after the 17th was terminated, not the years needed to develop a new Rei from scratch if something catastrophic happened. Ultimately, this was the reason they kept so many 'spares' of the First Child around along with the monthly backups of her mind, just in case the First died in combat, became unmanageable or otherwise was lost to them.

But…the system was not without its drawbacks.

The most glaring problem remained that it wasn't possible to digitize a human's memories or thought patterns to any real degree. Attempts had been made with limited success; in fact, that failed technology had been reborn as the key to the Dummy Plug project, with Rei as the basis subject. But the Dummy Plug was just a poor imitation of a human, little more then a trick to fool an Evangelion into synchronizing with a digital file through the A-10 links. A very basic, aggressive 'intelligence' that could be used as a last ditch defense, should the pilot be incapacitated that would probably be just as dangerous to any other Evangelion on the field as the Angel it was pointed against.

The backup system for Rei's memories on the other hand, _was _able to, reliably, duplicate every aspect of her thought processes and memories then download them into a new clone. Above the tank of LCL Rei spent so much time in was a mass of piping that concealed a small 7th Generation computer, very similar to the cloned brains used in the MAGI systems. Less powerful then even one of the super computers that made up that triad, it was however far more specialized. The system was designed to map the changes from month to month in Rei's mind, and then duplicate them in its own neural pathways as neurons and protein chains. In the event that Rei died, the Soul of Lilith would return to one of these vessels –each of which had a tiny fragment of it to anchor Lilith to NERV- almost at once, at which point the chosen clone would have the former Ayanami's memories dumped unceremoniously and painfully into it, with the data unspooling over a matter of weeks until the new Rei would be indistinguishable from the old.

But as with all things in an imperfect world, the system was not without its drawbacks.

The most glaring of which was that the technology was analogue. Not digital.

There was no such thing as an 'incremental backup' of Rei, no chance to revert to an 'earlier version'. Keeping the backups up to date was utterly critical for several reasons, not the least of which was that her combat training and experiences needed to be kept current. The absolute _last_ thing they needed was to put a 'Rei' in the entry plug of Unit Zero who had missed some critical training, during an Angel attack. Equally important was the fact that the Firsts synchronization ratios continually improved with her dutiful training, albeit at a very slow rate and neither Gendo nor SEELE would have accepted loosing ten percent of that ratio due to a lack of a current 'image'.

Secondary, but no less real concerns included the clear problems of a Rei who had forgotten years of her life re-appearing to people who knew her. Some temporary memory loss would be expected as the memories unfolded, but that would only be a matter of a week or two until she remembered everything and she could surely be passed off as having temporary amnesia, or just kept in 'critical care' isolation if needed.

Loosing several years worth of memories on the other hand for _real_…

While Rei was odd enough and withdrawn enough that it was unlikely people would even notice, all it would take would be the _smallest_ slip of the tongue to start to unravel the first thread, which led to the first rip in the fabric…and neither Gendo nor SEELE were willing take_ that _chance.

Of course, for _Gendo_, Rei's 'backup' presented its own, unique problems. So long as she would do what _he_ told her to do, then having a backup of Rei able to be replaced at a moments demand was arguably a huge advantage as the system was entirely under his control. Meaning he could freely risk her against the Angels without any concern of her death, which in itself was an advantage, should the need for suicidal tactics in battle become a necessity.

But the nightmare scenario at this stage late in the day, was that Rei might, somehow, start thinking for herself. And as a consequence, decide that she did_ not_ wish to perform her appointed task.

It was, however, unlikely in the extreme of course.

Years of careful isolation from humanity and robbing her of any real interaction had left her utterly beholden to Gendo, even after he had 'released' her unsupervised into school and her own apartment. Even Ikari's impulsive saving of Rei had simply bound her tighter to _his _will as the only human to show her the slightest warmth or concern. All evidence suggested she would be ready to do her part when needed.

Except for the other two Children…

They were variables in the equation which had the potential to be disastrous. Kōzō couldn't help but be perversely proud of the fact that the children, despite all their own problems, had clearly taken Rei protectively under their wing. Asuka had been just as fiery as all his reports had suggested, confronting him with her Mothers brilliance and a passion of her own that that had actually slightly intimidated him as he tried to find some hole, _any _hole in her logic.

How _could _he or Gendo defend the conditions Rei was being kept in, which probably violated half of Japanese law on the treatment of minors in particular and human beings in general? Even if NERV was mostly above the law, it wasn't as if the Vice Commander could exactly be expected to _fight_ for Rei's status quo without a VERY good reason…and that they had deliberately isolated Rei to make her pliable to Gendo's purposes would probably not be a reason Asuka, Shinji or just about everyone else at NERV would be inclined to accept.

So the Vice Commander had temporized, offering to move Rei into quarters inside the Geofront, which offered both tighter control over Rei for Gendo _and_ clearly met the major issues the Second and Third had brought up.

Asuka of course, had had none of that, instead _demanding _that she be granted the same rights as both her and Shinji, that it was grossly unfair to force Rei to work and live in the caverns of Central Dogma when there was an apartment building opposite that of Captain Katsuragi with an apartment free, especially given that NERV clearly had no problems with any of the children living about ground, Rei having lived on her own for years before either Shinji or Asuka had –though in their case, Misato had taken them both in.

Her voice had risen and fallen in a cadence of a much older woman as she laid out the exhaustive reasons why it was not acceptable, until Kōzō had finally admitted defeat and given in. Surprising and slightly embarrassing him, Asuka had then walked over and lightly kissed him on his cheek before heading out of the room with a smile on her face, mentioning in passing that she would be taking Rei shopping over the weekend, given the non existent state of her wardrobe.

Kōzō had suspected Asuka in fact found _that_ a far more heinous crime then her living conditions.

Fuyutsuki had thought about putting off the news, but Gendo wouldn't care for being kept in the dark, so, he had called him, obstinately to deliver the daily reports.

Unsurprisingly, Gendo had been unconcerned at the news when Fuyutsuki had delivered it in a simple, matter of fact tone at the end of much more mundane news; that at the requests of the other pilots, Rei was being moved to new and more suitable quarters closer to them, leaving unsaid the consequences of the other pilots now unavoidable involvement and concern for the First Child.

Gendos reply had been curt, approving the move and agreeing that the First should be allowed to skip this coming weekends' tests, to allow the shopping trip to proceed. If SEELE were listening in, which was about as close to a 'sure bet' as you could come in this business, Gendo's orders would be taken to be nothing out of the ordinary, though Keel would probably grumble about a non existent delay to the Human Instrumentality project that everyone knew didn't exist, but was still a small point to score off Ikari in their ongoing game.

Fuyutsuki however easily read between the lines; No uploads for Rei until they were sure she was stable after this weekend…just in case. He knew Gendo wouldn't care one way or the other what Rei did with her time or if she was allowed to live a little, just so long as she remembered firmly what she had been created to do. For all his apparent indifference and cruelty to her, he knew Gendo _did _care for her, at least on some level as his impulsive, rescue of her had shown. On the other hand, Gendo Ikari had not gotten to his position by making unwarranted assumptions. He might care for Rei more then his own Son, but he wouldn't hesitate to take action against her should a decades worth of patient work be in danger.

* * *

Now, sitting across from Rei as she simply stared at him, Kōzō was trying in vein to determine if this would be the case or not. 

"What is your primary purpose Rei?" he asked her bluntly.

Rei didn't even hesitate in answering as she lied through her teeth. Gendo and the members of SEELE might have had poker faces that would keep them out of Vegas…but Rei would have been promptly banned from the greater state of Nevada itself had _she_ shown up.

"Primarily; to serve as the catalyst for the Commanders Scenario as well as piloting Unit Zero in an Angel engagement scenario. Secondary considerations include-"

"Yes yes" Kōzō said in a dismissive tone that hid his relief that indeed Rei was still Rei.

Still, halting of the backups until Gendo himself could talk to her was a sensible precaution for now.

"None of this however" he continued, "precludes your interaction with the other Children" Kōzō continued. "To that end, you are to take this weekend off all NERV tests and spend some time with them as part of your team building training. You, Shinji Asuka should become good friends, to reinforce your working relationship. Against the Angels, we can leave nothing to chance, including teamwork. All indications are that the Angels will continue to evolve and adapt, and so must we".

"Understood" she replied flatly, expertly hiding the sudden swell of emotion as she realized she was being _ordered _to spend time with her friends.

_This was most advantageous._

"You are also aware I take it, that the Second and Third have pushed for you to be relocated to a new apartment?"

"Yes Sir" she acknowledged again.

"Do you have any problem with this?"

"I do not" Rei said after several seconds of consideration. "The state of my current dwelling appeared to infuriate the Second. It would be prudent to avoid such outcomes if we are to become…friends".

"Indeed" Fuyutsuki nodded, pleased at her answer. "Well, keep me apprised. The Commander will return on Monday and we will reschedule your tests for some time in the future. Your new apartment will be ready inside forty eight hours, have your apartment cleared out within that time period. Dismissed".

Outside, Rei maintained her typical dour look as she exited NERV into the Gefront.

The look continued as the mostly empty train ascended the Geofront and into a tunnel to the surface.

Only when the train broke into the brilliant sunset, did she let the slightest smile edge its way onto her face.

Kōzō watched her leave and the door close behind her, shuddering ever so slightly as she finally left. It still haunted him how much she was starting to look like Yui as she got older...

Would Yui forgive him for what he had helped do to her legacy? For what he had stood by and watched Rei be put through by Gendo? For the tiny spark of redemption he still desperately sought, perhaps in her level, familiar gaze staring out from Shinji Ikari?

On balance, he decided that Yui probably would forgive him; she was just that kind of a person. But he on the other hand…

No. He would never be able to forgive himself. His soul had been damned the second he had joined Gendo in fear of SEELE's threats.

And there was nothing he could do now to stop the avalanche, except perhaps help the children to find some kind of joy out of life. Before death claimed them all.

And Rebirth.

* * *

Rei let another slight smile move onto her face once again as she finished her brief shower and, after considering her rather limited wardrobe, dressed in a fresh school uniform, dismissing her new formal and semi formal white NERV uniforms as not suitable for this exercise with the other pilots. She had a rather bland if nutritional breakfast then cleaned up –strange she was getting into that habit when she was about to leave this place- and left, heading down the not terribly well maintained elevator and out onto the street towards the local train station. 

She walked alone –except for the Section 2 agents trying poorly not to look like they were following her- through the loud omnipresent clanging and drilling of construction around her neighborhood in the early morning light. Already from the pale, almost silvery blue hue the sky had taken on, Rei could tell the day would be a warm one, unusually so for this time of year. The Earths axial tilt had been reduced to seventeen degrees from twenty three after Third Impact, a minor difference on paper, but one that had led to an median increase of temperature in the Northern hemisphere and a decrease in the Southern. While the winters were still quite chilly at times in Tokyo-3, snowfalls across Japan had become increasingly rare and heavy winter clothing had all but vanished from the streets as time went on. To some extent, this was why she had never been that bothered with her choice of clothes. The uniforms were durable and comfortable enough to wear in any season.

But apparently, this was grossly insufficient.

As the increasingly crowded train sped into the City, Rei took the opportunity to study other women on the train, who wore a bewildering array of clothes of different cuts, shapes, shades and colors which Rei studied as carefully as any Evangelion training manual, of which she had read more then a few in her life. A few of the styles she thought were agreeable, others less so…the concept of choosing her own clothes suddenly interested her as she superimposed her own image –she had seen 'herself' enough in the tanks to be able to easily do this- with the clothes and studied the effect.

Her analysis in fact became so involved her that she found she almost missed the stop as the train decelerated, realizing the twenty minute trip had all but 'flown' by. A curious sensation for Rei, who usually tracked every second precisely, but one she could ignore as she left the train, ran her NERV card through the ticket machine –unlimited public transport was one of the few 'perks' she found useful as an Eva pilot- and started to walk down towards the shopping center.

* * *

"Hey! Ayanami, over here!" the Second Child shouted in her general direction ten minutes later. She easily spotted the excited looking pilot in a small group comprising her and the Third, as well as the Director of Operations, a quartet of Section Two agents and Special Inspector Ryoji Kaji making his way stealthfully towards the group from the direction opposite her. 

Adjusting her pace, she shifted towards the group, somewhat pleased to see them waiting for her, fascinated as she watched them conversing. The Second looking rather energized, the Third confused and the Captain amused…until the Special Inspector announced his presence, causing the Captain to whirl with a look of shock on her face, listening to their conversation with interest as she closed distance.

"But…but" Asuka stuttered as she stepped into close range, "I…we, need him to carry everything!" the Second whined in protest at Inspector Kaji saying he was going to take Shinji shopping for 'guy stuff' while she and the other two Girls did 'girl stuff'.

Curious. A custom that males were required to carry purchases for females during shopping. A custom apparently in danger from the aforementioned plans Kaji had to take Shinji for his own shopping, at least for part of this trip.

She must act quickly

"If you require male assistance to carry purchases" Rei suggested helpfully as her mind compared a list of known assets available with the problem, coming up with an easy solution, "there are six Section Two agents currently assigned to watch us, any three of which could serve that function while leaving an acceptable bodyguard force".

"What?" Asuka asked with a surprised expression on her face as she looked around. "Where?"

"There" Rei replied, pointing at the gaggle of men, including the two who had followed her from her apartment, trying to their best to look for all the world like a bunch of casually dressed businessmen going in to do some shopping, surprised that pilot Soryu hadn't seen them. Then again, she could understand that having only been in Tokyo-3 for a short time, she may not have had the chance to memorize the faces of the omnipresent shadows around them.

To Rei, they stood out rather clearly.

"Hey! You six" Asuka shouted, placing her hands on her hips with a confidence that Rei slightly envied as she stabbed a finger out at the suddenly unmasked agents. "Yes, _you _group of Two guys" she repeated, "over here, now!"

Turning back to face her, Asuka favored her with a smile.

"That's some good team thinking First!" she said. Before Rei could manage to think up an acceptable response to the complement however, she narrowed her eyes and stepped closer then Rei would have liked, if not in a hostile manner as she ran her eyes with an intense concentration over her face and hair, making Rei feel slightly uneasy.

"Do you cut your hair yourself? Hell, what kind of skin products are you using?" she demanded both answers at once, causing Rei to wonder if she had somehow given offense.

"Just…soap" Rei replied honestly.

Asuka said something in German.

"Okay, new plan" Asuka said in a determined voice that left no room for arguing. "FIRST we get you a makeover, and_ then _we go shopping! Hell, makeovers for all three of us!" Asuka declared.

Rei was peripherally aware of Captain Katsuragi all but crying in joy –a difficult concept Shinji had once explained to her- but turned her attention back to the Second, understanding, at least intellectually, what her fellow pilot was offering.

"T..Thank you" was all Rei could think to say, a compliment Asuka appeared to accept with the flash of a grin as she moved to direct her ire at the agents she had called over.

Rei moved off slightly, listening to the two other women start giving orders as she considered the strange overreaction of Captain Katsuragi, before she suddenly realized Shinji had walked up to her, yet again his eyes boring into her as if he knew _exactly _what was going through her mind.

"I know this might seem a little overwhelming" he said softly to her with a supportive smile, "but Asuka and Misato really mean well by all this".

"I understand" she replied, Shinji's simple statement meaning more to her then he could possibly know.

The idea that her…friends were doing this out of concern and respect for her…

"Think of it as a learning experience" he suggested and Rei focused on him in interest as he _said _what she had been thinking for some time.

"If you want to understand more about…human interaction" Shinji continued "then think of this as a lesson in the kind of thing most girls your age_ dream_ of".

"Then…I will endeavor to show my appreciation" Rei said, deciding not to query Shinji on the concept of dreaming. At least for now.

"No, its not about showing appreciation Rei, though I'm sure they'll…um…appreciate it" Shinji smiled somewhat earnestly. "It's about _you _having_ fun!_"

"Perhaps" she replied softly, glancing at the other members of their group, Misato laying down instructions Rei caught snippets of…and understood none of. They might as well have been speaking another language. "But I am not sure how I will do this…if I do not understand".

"That's what learning is about" Shinji pointed out to her in a somewhat more direct tone. "Life isn't a textbook Rei, some things you can only learn by doing".

"Then I will…do" she repeated.

_Ah, treat this entire exercise like a practical classroom lesson_.

If only she had even the slightest idea what the test was going to ask…

"But…I am not sure about what I will purchase to wear" she pointed out.

"Well…you might want to try something made of silk" Shinji suggested.

Silk. _Interesting_ she thought as her mind flashed over everything she knew about the protein fiber…

"I will do so" Rei replied, just as the doors were opened by a security guard, who was promptly almost trampled by the crowd as they surged inside.

Foolish. There was only a small crowd and a large shopping center; the crowd would disperse within seconds of entering, why would they possibly want to-

Any further thoughts were cut off as both the Second Child and Operations Director grabbed an arm each and pulled her at speed into the doors, without even a change to thank Shinji as he and Inspector Ryoji flashed out of sight.

* * *

The next ten minutes passed in a blur as the Captain led them at speed through the shopping center, overtaking many other groups moving at less then reckless speed. Rei had no problems keeping up, but found herself slightly in awe of how the two women had turned into examples of…inanity? 

No, that wasn't accurate. Insanity would imply they had lost their sanity, where they appeared to be very much _in _control of themselves…just…obsessive.

Yes. Obsessive.

_Very_ curious.

In no time at all, they had arrived at their destination, were whisked through to the back and before she knew it, she was sitting down in a chair, with two older ladies working with a will on the nails on her hands and feet.

The feeling of their files had been slightly strange and uncomfortable at first, but as she forced herself to relax, she found she had gotten used to the sensation and even started to accept it in a way she could even categorize as…enjoyment?

Rei was used to being prodded and poked none too gently, even painfully over the years by scientists such as Doctor Akagi and as such didn't really find anything 'flinch' worthy in the way strangers touched her anymore. But none of _them_ had ever treated her as gently as these people did, nor have the ultimate goal of making her look and feel 'beautiful'. She could even characterize this as slightly soothing…

She watched with interest as after they had finished shaping the nail into quite pleasing shapes, the technicians methodically 'polished' then painted her nails. She had given some serious thought to the offer of the artificial nail tips, but declined, satisfied with the trimming, cleaning and polishing of her own. A creature of infinite patience, Rei calmly waited until the last of her nails were finished and dried with hot air before she was allowed to stand. She carefully inspected their work…

And decide that yes, on balance, she was actually very pleased with the effect of her now pearly and shimmering nails that glowed as they caught the light…

"This is not an unpleasant outcome" she offered with the slightest smile as she looked up. "I believe this was quite an…enjoyable experience" said continued, starting to reach for her socks in a strange duality, feeling…sadness?

Yes, a slight sadness that this was now over.

"Hold it, where do you think _you're_ going?" Asuka broke in.

"We are finished" Rei said in some confusion, generating a spectacular explosion of laughter from Asuka and a grin from Misato.

"Finished? Oh Rei, you're priceless. Come on, we've barely started!" the Second declared, reaching over and taking a firm grip on her hand once again to lead her into the next room, Rei wryly noting in passing at that Asuka had no problem in touching her…and finding herself, for once, actually quite unphased with the constant physical contact.

"_This _is the best part" she declared as they passed through a 'door' of thin cloth strips, pointing to a series of odd looking beds, each separated by shoulder high screens attended by yet more 'technicians' who were clearly making preparations.

_Odd._

None the less, she followed the given instructions obediently as she always did, undressing down to nothing but her panties and lying face down, finding the oddly contoured bed surprisingly relaxing as the shapes worked to fit her body and the two women at each bed made their preparations, listening but not responding to the talk and noises of the two people on either side of her, too caught up in the experience.

She heard the Captain next to her suddenly moan in an almost subsonic grunt, followed shortly but Asuka in a similar, but higher pitched moan, followed by several demands of 'harder!', then _very_ precise directions-

At which point Rei felt what she presumed to be oil dribbling onto her back before a pair of gentle, but firm, light but insistent hands started to work it in. Rei closed her eyes and breathed in sharply as the hands moved across her back and sides, feelings she had never felt surging through her nervous system as expert hands found tight muscles and worked them, against their will, to unwind and relax.

Rei had sampled all manner of pain through the years of her life from the sharp acid burning of a long thin cut to the throbbing agony of internal organs being damaged, to the grinding of broken bones rubbing against each other…but she had never felt, nor suspected, that _pleasure _could be anything like this, as a second pair of hands went to work on her long legs.

Suddenly, she felt as if she was lost in a sea of bliss and almost unconsciously, she started to let out soft, slight moans of pleasure in chorus with the other two women around her, the volume of their grunts and moans slowly increasing-

* * *

Across town somewhere, Shinji Ikari suddenly sneezed, before looking around in confusion and wondering where _that _had come from.

* * *

Rei Ayanami was thinking deeply as she found her mind drifting, almost floating in the pure relaxation that she had never felt or understood before as the seconds turned to minutes, then tens of minutes. In her clearly far too simplistic analysis, she had thought of pleasure as the absence of pain. While it was true the concepts were opposed in most texts she had read and that no pain was a…pleasurable state of sorts, it was clearly _not _pleasure, in of itself, but any deeper thought was impossible as her concentration narrowed to the feelings. Right now, Rei's nervous system was near overloading with sensations she had never felt before as the quartet of hands, without mercy, worked along her back, legs and sides. She almost felt as if she was melting, being 'relaxed' into a puddle that was spreading across the table from all the attention…and all she cared about was that it not stop. 

If an Angel had attacked, Rei didn't know if she would be able to get up.

If _he _had demanded she get up, for the first time, Rei thought there was a chance she might have been tempted to disobey…

Or at least take, as that saying went, 'her sweet time' in following the order.

But all too soon, the hands slowed, then stopped.

Still, the feeling continued to rebound randomly through her body and Rei simply lay there absorbing them, breathing deeply with her eyes shut as she luxuriated in the strange, overwhelming new sensations tingling up and down her nerves.

She might be a clone, but she still had every nerve any other human did -and few more besides for that matter- letting her mind drift on the currents of feeling…images, thoughts and feelings drifting across her mind...

'Mountains'.

(_The mist in the morning over the hills of Tokyo-3)-_

'Heavy are the mountains…but that changes…with the passage of time. Sky, blue sky'

(_Staring out the window of the classroom at the crystal blue sky)-_

'What your eyes can't see. What your eyes can see.'

_(Shinji following her up the stairs onto the roof)-_

'Water. It is agreeable.'

(_The feel of water as she dove into the pool)-_

'Flowers. So many the same. So many without purpose.'

_(Shinji handing over the flowers to her, a blush on his face-)_

'Sky. Sky of red. Red the color, the color I hate…yet the color of friends.'

_(Unit Two's pilot in her scarlet plug suit smirking cheerfully at her as she prepared to leave NERV to fight the 7__th __Angel)-_

'From the red soil the humans come.'

_(Floating in a tank of LCL in the darkness, all alone, so very alone)-_

'Humans made by man and woman.'

_(Classmate Hikari's gaze continually lingering on Classmate Suzuhara)-_

'City, a human creation.'

_(Being pulled through the shopping center earlier today by her frantic companions)-_

'Eva, a human creation as well.'

_("GO AWAY ECHO!")-_

'What are humans? Are they creations of God?'

_(A strange but familiar giant white being in the clouds, nine tiny points of white light around it as reached for a tiny red cross in front of it…)-_

'Humans, that which is created by humans.'

_("We may need to accelerate your recovery profile")-_

'This is that which is mine, my life, my heart. I am a vessel for my thoughts.'

_("__How could you let her live like this Baka?")-_

'The Entry Plug, a throne for the soul.'

_("You are a tool, a disposable, replacement copy of a dead person!")-_

'Who am I? I am I. This object that is unique, that is I. That, which forms, is me.'

_("Rei, you cannot be replaced. You are a unique individual")-_

'Awareness dawns of someone who is not me.'

_("Who are you? An Angel? The person that we call an Angel?")-_

'Who is here, there, beyond me here?'

'Shinji'

_("Should I initiate romantic contact with pilot Ikari?")-_

'This person I know, Captain Katsuragi.'

_(The look of happiness, friendship and…obsession on her face as she pulled her through the shopping center)-_

'Doctor Akagi.'

_(The look of utter contempt and boredom as she performed her monthly uploads)-_

'People, my classmates.'

_("__Good luck today Rei!)-_

'The pilot of Unit Two…Asuka'

_("Let's be good friends!")-_

'Commander Ikari?'

_("Merge all souls into one. And then, take me to Yui's side.")-  
_  
'Who are you?'

_("You've existed for the sake of today, this day, Rei")-_

'Who are you?'

_("I'm home")-_

'Who are you...'

_(Welcome Home)-_

And with that, the world of images shattered as she heard someone calling her name-

"Rei" the voice repeated, accompanied by an electric shock of feeling from a light touch on her shoulder that caused her to open her eyes as, as the voice commented that it was time to move on.

Sitting up, she shivered slightly as her rather flexible back arched, nerve endings firing off as she moved to a sitting position.

"Are you okay?" Asuka asked with a raised eyebrow from beside her as Misato held up a robe.

_No. I am far better then 'alright' _Rei thought to herself.

"I am…content" she replied, trying not to gasp at the contact of the robe with her skin, wrapping it tight around her. Not to preserve her modesty, Rei had rather little concern about that in the presence of these two people, but suddenly _wanting _the contact as close as possible with her skin.

Asuka shrugged at her response and twirled, her own robe much more loosely tied off.

"Come along then, this isn't over yet" she said and Rei obediently forced herself into motion, not even noticing that her clothes had been discreetly removed by the staff as they had left. This time a pair of glass doors with polished metal handles that sealed the room off almost as well as an airlock separated this room from the next. Her curiosity piqued, Rei followed Asuka closely through the first, then instantly felt the moisture and heat as soon as they stepped into the second, though far from unbearable amounts.

The large spa in the next room was bubbling with a veritable cocktail of chemicals, designed to leach the oils from the previous massage, as well as remove deep grim and other microscopic junk out of their skin. Rei, showing a complete disregard for her modesty promptly disrobed and stepped in, closing her eyes and sighing slightly as she let the withering and rolling water wash over her, followed quickly by Asuka and Misato.

Water had indeed always been 'agreeable' to Rei, but this was a whole new kind of water. Not the running heat of a shower, not the calm solid mass of a swimming pool. No, instead this water surged and writhed around her, pulling and pushing, almost like she had stepped into a living breathing ecstasy.

It was also pleasant.

"Oh looky, we got these cool things!" Asuka suddenly said in triumph, leaning over the edge to pull a number of what looked like gloves of some kind in from a shelf, tossing a pair to Misato and Rei. Rei studied her pair, they felt slightly odd, almost like a thin, very fine mesh of some kind was on the outside…

Running her hands over the surface, she couldn't quite describe the sensation. Not soft, but not uncomfortable either…

"Okay, you do my back and I'll do yours" Asuka said, half crawling and half swimming across to her as Misato placed her gloves aside to lean back and simply enjoy the wonderful hot water for a few minutes.

"I…do not-"

"Okay okay" Asuka sighed. "Look, I'll do _your _back first then, pay attention then do mine, okay?"

"Understood" she said, turning around to face away from pilot Soryu, her curiously now increasing to the point of expectation.

She heard the splashing as the Second moved closer, then the feeling as he legs pressed up against Rei's-

_Soft…so soft…_

-followed by Asuka's breath on her neck as she gently moved her hands up, dribbling some new liquid onto her back before gently moving her hands onto her shoulders-

* * *

For a second time, Shinji Ikari sneezed across town, this time much more violently as he again looked around the small room he was inside in irritation.

* * *

_This…is most…interesting_ Rei Ayanami thought to herself almost an hour later. 

Currently, she was lying with her eyes closed under a pair of slices of cucumber –she didn't exactly understand why, but obediently followed orders as always - on a reclined chair. She was wearing a new, thinner robe, trying not to writhe in pleasure as she _felt _every millimeter of the fabric moving against her skin and the underlying leather coverings.

Countless years in LCL tanks combined with simple showering had left her skin, if not damaged, then with deep buildups of LCL junk inside her pores and over her skin, deadening her ability to 'feel', like trying to pick up sand with heavy gloves. The spa had broken down these layers, and then Asuka had methodically removed everything with her 'exfoliating' gloves and liquids from her back, before Rei had done the same, then worked every other square inch of her own body with the same attention to detail.

Her skins sensitivity had been heightened to a level that, when combined with the forced relaxation of her muscles, had left her in a state which could only be described as 'sensory overload'. It had been all she could do to turn around after Asuka had declared her and return the favor to Asuka with the gloves, striving to duplicate the effort as best she could on the seconds back and sides, following her rather exacting directions as best she could.

Finally, they had left the spa and dried off in individual rooms, Rei gasping ever so slightly as she _felt _the play of air currents over her new skin cells, standing there undressed for at least a minute until an impatient Asuka had thumped on her door and demanded she get moving. Now, sitting in her reclined chair with her face coated in chemicals, she turned her awareness inward, studying the strange tingling sensations as the chemicals forced her pores open following something called an 'exfoliating steam treatment', purging her face of all manner of built up debris-

"Say Rei…" Asukas voice came, from roughly two point five meters from her right.

"Yes?" she answered with part of her concentration, the rest of her mind still far too busy being blasted by sensations she had no experience in…

"You have any ideas what kind of clothes you want to look at" the Second Child asked with a content sigh.

"I was…told…that silk garments are nice" Rei threw out the first thing that came to her mind, thankful that Shinji had suggested _something_, but aware with an uneasy feeling that she now had precisely no 'knowledge' to fall back on.

Then again…the Third Child had told her to view this as a learning experience…so, she would.

"Ohh, a silk girl eh? Hey, Misato?"

"Eh?"

"Know any good places with silk around here?"

"Eh?"

"Are you listening to me?"

"Eh?"

"…Hey, Kaji!"

"I'm awake, I'm awake!" Captain Katsuragi suddenly called out in a tone of surprise and outrage. "What…oh…hey, that wasn't fair!"

"Whatever. As I was saying, Rei here is interested in looking at silk clothes; you know any stores around here?"

"Several" Misato assured her, then paused. "I wonder if Shinji is waiting outside..."

Asuka snorted. "The Baka is probably trying to figure out a way to get in and perv on us while we can't see".

"Is that a hint of hope I hear in your voice Asuka?" Misato asked in a coy voice.

"NO!" Asuka said in alarm.

"Captain Katsuragi is correct" Rei decided to offer helpfully. "There was a tone of expectation in your voice over such a-"

"No there wasn't!" Asuka all but screeched in her defense, not quite hiding Misato's cackles…and causing Rei to blush slightly under her mask. She had just tried to be helpful…

Eventually, she felt the slices of cucumber removed and hands carefully rinsed off her face, then patted it dry until she was told she could open her eyes.

"Well, are we having fun yet Rei?" Asuka asked as she appeared at point blank range of Rei's gaze as her sight returned, almost causing her to flinch back from the intrusion into her personal space.

"I…believe I am" Rei admitted, her skin slowly becoming used to its state of increased sensitivity not sending quite so overwhelming signals to her brain helping greatly in letting her regain her composure…but it still feel very, very….nice.

"And the final stage, the haircut" Misato sighed, glancing at her own hair in a convenient mirror and twirling a strand in a thumb and finger. "You know, I think I need to have this colored again" she sighed in annoyance as she glanced at the roots, which were starting to again show the much darker, raven black over the lighter purple above.

"Oh lighten up" Asuka said, stepping closer to Rei to study her hair with a critical eye that almost made Rei feel embarrassed next to Asuka's own hair that _burned_ like it was trying to dissipate the excess energy bubbling inside Asuka. "The question is what we are going to do with _this…_style" she said delicately.

"Oh, I know someone who might be able to help" Misato smiled, gesturing them into the next room.

"Misato!" a man commented in surprise and joy as the Captain led her charges into what even Rei could recognize as a hair salon.

"Hey there Francesco" Misato replied with a sheepish looking grin as she walked over and curiously 'faked' kissing his cheeks, a gesture which was returned without any hint of embarrassment or hesitation. "I brought some friends with me".

"So I see" he said, gesturing them forward.

Asuka of course danced ahead with enthusiasm, getting very appreciative comments as the man clearly saw the same personification of Asuka in her hair that Rei did, joking and laughing with her before his gaze turned professional and after short excited conversation, Asuka was moving off to a chair and he then gestured her forward, feeling almost locked in place by his intense gaze, a strange but not uncomfortable feeling sending shivers down her spine as he focused intently on her.

"Oh, wow" he finally said as he stepped back. "This is…" he hesitated slightly for a few seconds and Rei, feeling strangely impulsive, showed a glimpse of her sense of humor.

"Hair" she supplied in her usual, soft voice.

Everyone in the room burst out laughing at that perfectly delivered line, collectively making even the poor stylists waiting in the room under strict Japanese cultural rules helplessly snicker despite all their efforts.

Asuka on the other hand laughed so much that she doubled over, her face starting to turn the same shade as her hair as she desperately struggled for breath.

"Rei…" she eventually managed to get out, "don't ever change".

_Oh but I _am, she thought in a rare, sudden rebellious surge at Asuka's clear enjoyment of her joke.

"What…I was going to say" Francesco said a few seconds later, getting himself under control and striving for the cool, calm image he worked _so_ hard to cultivate, "was that this hairstyle is…basic, but it has all the building blocks to do wonderful things and with that utterly amazing skin of yours…you will be something utterly unique".

"That is…good" Rei agreed. Secretly, she found this 'Francesco's' instant recognition of her as a unique being most pleasing and anything he could do to enhance that, differentiating her from the genetically identical 'sisters' deep under Central Dogma, could only be useful.

Sitting down when directed, Francesco showed her a series of pictures, describing the hairstyle he was planning on. Rei understood little of it, but decided the suggested styles were…provocative.

She risked the Commanders displeasure with all of these changes she was undertaking…

But so be it. She had 'lived' in a dead zone of obedience to his will for her entire life under the assumption that if she died, another would replace her. And another would replace _her _and another would replace_ her…_

And yet again, she saw Shinji on the school rooftop all those months ago looking deeply into her eyes…

'You are a unique, free, individual. By definition, your purpose is to live life as you wish to live it!'

If this was her one chance to live…then she would _live_. Though…continued discretion to hide this revelation from the Commander would probably be a wise precaution, against the possibility of her termination and 'replacement'.

At least until the time came when she no longer had to fear such an outcome.

So instead she sat calmly as blue hair started to fall away around her, Francesco working with an intensity easily matching any concentration she had ever put into Evangelion piloting…

* * *

"Well?" Francesco asked in a near breathless tone as he finally stepped back an hour later, declaring his work finished. 

Rei glanced up at the mirror –she had deliberately _not _watched the process to better be surprised at the end – and gasped lightly at the stranger looking back at her.

Her hair had always been very thick and while it had been kept clear of her face, its style had been…basic; evenly combed from the top of her head down around three hundred and sixty degrees to a uniform length.

Now however, she looked in considerable surprise at a very different face. She had been given what her stylist had called an 'asymmetrical short cut', her hair, thinned considerably was now parted on the far right and pulled neatly across her head, several forward strands hanging down almost exotically in front of her forehead with two major waves framing her face on the left and right and almost touching down at her chin. To the rear and sides, her hair looked almost messy and random, much as the Second Childs had when she first arrived in Japan, but made up of much longer and thinner strips of hair…all of which shone, courtesy of some highlighting chemicals sprayed on.

It was so utterly different from the face that usually stared back in her mirror that Rei blinked and had to look closer, before smiling ever so slightly once more.

"It is…very acceptable" Rei said.

Where as Francesco would probably take such a reply as a statement of utter dissatisfaction from anyone else, his many rather one sided conversations with this young lady over the last three quarters of an hour had suggested that she truly _did _mean what she had said.

"Good!" he smiled, ripping her covers off her and letting her stand with a flourish. Asuka and Misato's own work had taken much less time; Rei had needed her hair to be washed and worked much harder then theirs, Misato hadn't even bothered to recolor, just taking a slight cut for today. Asuka's hair, she had felt a slight jealously at, as it was continually complemented and commented on how well she had taken care of it, as it was slowly gathered tightly, then waved into a snakelike tail that fell down her neck, before releasing and splaying out. The Second spent most of her time chatting with this 'Francesco' in German, apparently delighted to have someone fluent in her native language, though he periodicly broke out to query his own client, giving detailed information that Rei appreciated on the process, finding the knowledge fascinating.

Ultimately however, both Misato and Asuka had left her behind as they finished rather quickly, slightly annoying her as they apparently abandoned her...

On the other hand, yet again she absorbed a new feeling, as her stylist ran his hands through her hair, working in various chemicals which he then rinsed, and started the process all over again with a new solution.

The feeling of him briskly massaging her hair…then pulling her thick hair up and slicing it off…

As with the massage and Asuka's skin treatment, the sensations had ended, but the echoes remained, causing her to shiver.

Now finished, she stood turned and bowed slightly in respect for his skills, before heading for the front door-

Only to be almost run down as Asuka bounded in, her arms carrying several bags.

"Oh hey, you finished! Perfect! Look I got you some clothes to change into, before we go shopping. I looked outside and well, there are so many people around today, I didn't want you to be seen in that damn uniform while we're shopping!"

"You went shopping…so I can go shopping?" Rei asked in confusion. Asuka's grin slowly reduced to an exasperated expression as she directed her gaze at the ceiling with a sigh. "What are you, Shinji's Sister or something?" she muttered, missing the startled look from Rei at_ that _statement before she pulled her gaze back and thrust the bags into her arms. "Look, just put these on, they should fit fine oh…hey Francesco" Asuka suddenly said, turning a pleading expression on him, "can Rei just use you're change room, real quick?"

"Honey, knowing your fashion sense, Rei can use it for as long as she likes?" he said back as he packed away his tools, getting a grin from Asuka and a blush from Rei as the Second pushed the First into the room and shut the door.

* * *

Rei Ayanami left the beauty center feeling slightly odd as she stepped into the bustling shopping center. 

It wasn't so much the factthat she was getting stares from everyone as she walked past that generated this feeling. Having blue hair and red pupils tended to mean she got much more of those then anyone else her age as a matter of course and she had learned to simply ignore them.

But this was the first time she was getting stares that could be described as full of envy, lust and/or blunt sexual attraction.

Francesco had given her a perfect, deep bow without a word as she had exited the facility, but the crowd of people she ran into outside –especially the males relatively close to her age- all appeared to give her their undivided attention for a very different reason then the normal slight curiosity. The probability assessment was that it probably had something to do with the new clothes she was wearing, combined with her new haircut.

Her shoes were the only part of her clothes that had not changed, her uniform neatly folded inside one of the shopping bags Asuka had pressed into her arms before pushing her inside the changing room. She now wore a perfectly white singlet top that dipped daringly towards her chest and was just short enough to leave a small strip of her midriff exposed – and a short skirt of a deep charcoal which reached to just above her knees. Under the skirt and reaching to just above her ankles were tight fitting aqua leggings that felt _good _to her somewhat over stimulated skin, making her shiver as she had pulled them on.

For the first time in her life, she felt ever so slightly self conscious about her appearance as she stopped just outside the business. Halting for several seconds, she moved her thoughts back over the body language of Asuka, the way today she had moved and presented herself…

Rei didn't exactly have experience, but she did have an exquisite sense of the appropriate combined with a perfect memory, and so, let her walk, body language and even the way she held her head subtly mutate as she walked along, seeing the Second and Captain Katsuragi in the far distance…then slowing as she glanced downstairs and saw a familiar figure inside a crowded store full of boys her age.

_Classmate Aida _Rei thought for a matter of seconds…then altered her trajectory to a nearby stairwell for an intercept.

_Excellent, a practice run to calibrate my behavioral patterns _she decided, trying her best to call up the memories of her female classmate's interactions with male classmates as she angled for the store, filled with all manner of men, but few women…

* * *

Ramiel, the 5th Angel, the mighty Angel of Thunder, fired. 

A beam of super accelerated helium roared out from the corner of the Octahedron, the particles heated to a temperature that would rival the heat of the surface of a main sequence star. The beams target, two enormous humanoid figures on a hilltop far to the South of Tokyo-3 did not flinch from the raw, unholy power rushing towards them. One remained standing, its arms wide as if mocking all the awesome power directed against it. The second, yellow figure remained crouched on its knees next to it, but the two worked together, warping time and space, causing the beam to _curve _around them, in violation of just about everything anyone _knew _about AT-Fields.

Almost contemptuously, the purple giant reached out an arm and a gigantic rifle like cannon all but leaped into its hand as the AT field smote it, and that this too defied any and all laws of the AT field didn't appear to matter.

"KNOW THE NAME OF YOUR DESTROYER" a voice challenged across the waters of the lake at its adversary in both triumph and rage. "YOU WHO HAVE COME DOWN TO JUDGE HUMANITY! THIS IS EVANGELION! TITANICUS! -PRINCIPIO ETERNUS-!"

"IN ITS NAME, DIE!"

Unit One took aim almost casually, as if the rifle worth several billion yen was nothing more then an oversized handgun, the second EVA next to it looking up as if in adoration as it directed mankind's blessed vengeance towards the enemy that started to rise up from the ground, as if to beat a hasty retreat.

"IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY" the voice decreed with all the authority of judge, jury and executioner, "DIE!"

The positron beam shot out unerringly as if homing into the Angel's core. It punched through its AT-field. It blew through its blue armor as if it wasn't there.

Ramiel let out a screech. It fell.

And it died-

"Uh no, you can't do that Aida" a voice protested, ripping Kensuke out of his glorious fantasy of Good against Evil with a sound in his mind like an old record player's needle being pulled off in haste.

"Why in the hell not?" Kensuke demanded, looking down at the gigantic tabletop terrain set up and the two quite realistic looking Evangelion models. which had just arrived today, Based off the videos he had taken during Shinji's battle with the second of those damn things, Rei's Unit Zero was similar in most ways to Shinji's, but painted yellow, without the shoulder pauldrons and a much more simple head, the best he could do based of Shinji's rather minimal descriptions of the Unit as Kensuke had never seen it himself, just Units One and Two –which put him ahead of just about everyone else his age.

Still, the model was probably close enough.

Given Japans significant so called 'Otaku' class, it was probably unsurprising that when combined with the often fanatic interest of young Japanese males in military technology, that the Evangelions had been _the_topic of conversation of many people for quite some time.

Some –well most- Otaku however, took it to the next level.

As one of the few living people to have seen the Evangelion - and not just seen, but seen them in _combat_, as well as close friend to one Eva pilot and secondary level enemy of another, Kensuke Aida was now by definition the next best thing to an Alpha Male in this group and he used the authority ruthlessly. Right now, the major project of the people here was to modify the Warhammer 40,000 Epic ruleset into a game that could be used by countless people to engage in simulated Evangelion combat.

Why? Well, no-one really knew, but it was fun and popular, so who gave a damn?

Defining the Evangelions as Titans was the simplest thing to do of course, though_ who_ had named Unit One 'Principo Eternus' no-one could remember…  
But as everyone agreed it was just _such_ a cool name, it stuck.

_Perhaps I can get Shinji convinced...and he can convince NERV...nah, not going to happen _Kensuke sighed.

It had cost Kensuke almost all the money he had made selling pictures of the Red Demon to set this up, the sideline having dried up as the heat had increased when Hikari had found out _someone _was selling pictures of her best friend and started searching, but 'his' people had come through for him and delivered a pair of quite realistic looking Evangelions, designed based off a few give out frames from his now carefully hidden video files, the group getting to work with a will, using pieces from countless model kits and not a little ingenuity to build quite a viable replica.

But they had collectively scratched their heads at the attempt to build their opponents given their odd shapes and features.

Fortunately, the 5th Angel, a nice, simple Octahedron had been a godsend of simplicity and the 5th Angel, or the 'D8 of Doom' as one of the gamers had christened it after its shape, had become the victim of the first full test of their rules system.

But their first test had just run into a slight snag.

"See" the player opposite him said, pulling Aida's attention back to the present, "you don't have a proper line of site with the Angel moving the way it was then. You fire and you're going to hit that building in front of the target, it counts as in cover".

"The positron cannon is firing with all the energy in Japan, I don't think its going to _care _about a little, unarmored building like _that!"_Kensuke protested in exasperation. "I mean this counts as high end Titan scale weapons here, I think we should just write it as an 'ignores cover save'".

"Well…okay, I can see that" his opponent shrugged, picking up a sheaf of paper –their working draft of the rules- and editing the 'Heavy Volcano/Positron Cannon' entry. "So the gunnery modifiers for the Earths rotation and gravity are…?"

"Just minus two at in the shooting phase" Aida decided on balance, looking down at his notes and thus missing the increasing attention of people in the store to something or someone around the door area. "Now we have to just modify the defensive stats for Unit Zero and I think we should be set".

"Perhaps I can help" a silky, _gorgeous _and very female voice came from behind him without warning. Slowly looking up from the table, Kensuke noticed just about the entire store, made up of males his age group and mostly without girlfriends, was looking at him –or the unknown person behind him, mostly with jaws trying to hit the floor. Swallowing slightly, Kensuke slowly turned and set his sights on the person behind him…

She looked roughly his age; utterly _gorgeous_ in amazing clothes. She had perfect skin, a rather well developed chest area and striking red pupils hidden behind her blue fringe-

Wait a second…

_Red_ pupils? _Blue_ fringe?

"R…R…" he tried pathetically to get out…

"Rei?" the First Child helped him in a soft voice, moving a step closer as she modulated her voice in the same way classmate Tanaka had and stepped inside the outer boundaries of what she knew was classified as 'personal space'. "Yes, that _is_ my name Kensuke" she said, glancing past him to look with great interest at the tactical battle simulation underway, recognizing the setting at once and smiling slightly. "However, I must tell you that in this engagement, I shielded Shinji using a heavily modified heat shield from a decommissioned spacecraft, while he fired the weapon from a stable prone ground position". Turning her gaze back to the clearly stunned boy in front of her, she raised an eyebrow and let the smile fade, causing him to flinch slightly. "However, I cannot talk much more about this due to issues of security classification" she apologized.

"Th…that's okay" he managed to get out, his mind all but fried by the gorgeous appearance of his classmate as he drank in the vision in front of him_ talking _to him! Over the years he had known Rei, she might have said what, ten words to him?

And now _this?_

"You…you look amazing" he half blurted out, striving to sound 'cool' but not exactly succeeding; his rather brilliant mind trying and failing to reconcile the 'school' Rei with this 'sex kitten' Rei standing a half meter away from him. He was aware that his friends and acquaintances in the store were still staring in shock and envy at him…and at this moment in time, part of Kensuke could easily relate to their surprise.

He had told them about Rei of course, as well as Shinji and Asuka, his knowledge of the pilots and the Evangelions the stuff of hard currency in this circle of friends…but clearly, he didn't know Rei anything _like _as well as he thought if she was looking like _this_!

"Thank you, Kensuke" she _purred, _causing most people within earshot to vibrate in sympathy and Kensuke to damn near rupture a blood vessel in his nose. "I need to talk to you for a second, please come with me" she said, turning and causing her skirt to lift most provocatively as she slowly strode out the door into the bustling crowds, glancing curiously at a figurine in the window labeled as an 'Ork Warboss' which appeared to be winking at her…

Part of Kensuke watching her go wanted to run screaming in horror as far away from here as possible.

The saner, sex crazed teenage part however, overruled it and forced his legs into action.

"You are aware, of the Summer Dance that is approaching?" Rei asked him without preamble when they had stepped slightly outside into the crowds.

"Yes…" he said cautiously, feeling his heart start to hammer. _Oh no, it couldn't be…she wouldn't…_

"Shinji suggested that he would attempt to 'set me up' with a date" she continued, some of the 'old' Rei coming through now in her inflections. "Unfortunately, I think he has been slightly distracted by our duties at NERV. As such, I have decided to approach you myself".

"Shinji…decided to set me up with you?" he asked in a somewhat surprised tone with a slight, disbelieving edge that Rei instantly took the wrong way.

"Yes…I did not mean to insult you" she said with a slight flush of Red on her face that caused Kensuke to suddenly feel like crap.

"No no, its not that you insulted me…I just don't understand how someone as…as amazing as you, a _beautiful_ Eva pilot, could possibly want to go to the dance with someone like me".

Rei had been feeling quite pleased at the reactions she had gained from her classmate and the people around him, but now felt somewhat unsure. Why would Kensuke Aida think 'someone like me' in a negative?

He was highly intelligent and had been a good friend to Shinji since he had arrived by all her observations. And he had been the one person, outside Shinji himself, to wish her luck when she had headed into NERV for Unit Zero's reactivation test…

"I do not understand why I would not want to go with you" she eventually said with a slight shrug, dismissing his concerns as irrelevant and waiting patiently.

It was after all, customary for the male to ask the female, was it not?

"Um…well…" he said, wondering at the expectant look she was giving him and deciding what the hell? "Would…would you like to…I mean, would you let me do the honor of…uh…" _damn it, she's starting to frown, pull it together Kensuke _his mind screamed, forcing himself to stop and take a deep breath.

"Rei, would you like to go to the dance with me?"

Rei appeared to consider his question very seriously, before nodding and giving him a very direct look.

"Yes, I would".

"Uh…" he wondered at that, not entirely sure about that response. "So…will you?"

_Now _she smiled slightly.

"Yes, I will".

"Awesome, I mean, uh, excellent" he smiled back, trying to be cool.

Rei then proceeded to the final stage and leaned in without warning to gently kiss him on his cheek, causing him to make a strange, slightly strangled noise before she withdrew, turned and headed for the stairs, not noticing the fact that Kensuke was locked in place and not moving until his friends, looking at him in awe, walked out of the store to drag him back inside, Aida still not moving or acknowledging anything as if in a state of shock

* * *

. 

"Wow" Shinji Ikari said to her as she ascended the final flight of stairs, finding to her surprise and happiness that he and Kaji were waiting for her at the top of the stairs. Instantly, she noticed that he also had 'had a makeover' of his own. Now, he was dressed in a rather intriguing gray shirt and mustard colored jacket, along with jeans of such a dark blue they looked almost black as well as what appeared to be brand new shoes.

But more then that…

His face looked suddenly different.

Some things Rei found very difficult to understand or perceive in terms of human emotion. Other things, she noticed at once. In this case, Shinji…suddenly, he looked calmer, for lack of a better word. As if he had finally confronted something, something extraordinary and moved past it. His shoulders were just a fraction lower and his head a fraction higher, his back a fraction straighter and the smile on his face lacked that slightest haunted edge she had always perceived, instead reinforcing the determination in his stance.

It was not an unpleasing change to look at…but Rei felt slightly…sad, that she had not been there to share his changes with him.

And it then occurred to her, that a similar thought may well be running through _his _mind about _her _as he drank in her changes.

"Wow" he repeated after several seconds, as if it was the only thought that came to his mind.

"You like?" Rei asked coyly, slowly rotating in place to give him a full look, missing the astonished look he shot at Kaji at the tone of her smoky voice, his face looking like he either wanted to burst out laughing or take a DNA test to make sure she _was _who she appeared to be as she finished her turn.

"I very much like. I didn't even recognize you at first" he said admiringly, glancing down over the railing into the gaming store with a grin on his face. "And I think you might have broken Kensuke".

"It was a convenient opportunity" she defended her decision. "Now I have a date for the major social event of this year.

"You walked in there and asked him out?" he said in a tone of unhidden amazement and…was that pride?

"Yes" she acknowledged with a slight frown. Should I not have?"

"Oh no, its just that it's just that…well…I'm so proud of you" he admitted, reaching across suddenly to enfold her in an impulsive hug. Blinking slightly in surprise, Rei flushed in slight embarrassment…then slowly raised her own arms to gently return it, enjoying his sheer presence against her sensitive skin...

Of all the sensations she had felt today, that had overwhelmed her, this…this was by far the most powerful and she felt helpless to do anything but accept it.

She could feel pride, friendship, acceptance and a genuine feeling that he _cared_ about her, in the same way she had felt his fear when they had headed to headquarters to battle the 4th Angel. It was that same connection that had 'clicked' between them the first time they had talked, when she was lying in a hospital bed, and when their gaze had locked on the rooftop at school, an invisible bond that linked the two of them irrevocably on a fundamental level, beyond that she shared with anyone…

Despite the fact that he had only known her a matter of months…

Despite the fact that the first time they had met, he had been forced into doing something he clearly did _not _want to do, to save her life…

Despite the fact that he _barely _knew the first thing about her, the secrets Rei was hiding from him…

_Is this love? _She thought to herself silently, until Agent Kaji broke the mood with a polite cough.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds" he said lightly, causing Rei's cheeks to flush and Shinji to look more then a little sheepish as they quickly let go of each other, "but we should go and join up with the others" he said, inclining his head much further down their level.

Rei looked up and saw both Captain Katsuragi and pilot Soryu…Asuka, watching them from a distance.

The Captain appeared to be amused at their position. The Second however…

For the briefest second, a look of…pain? Jealously? Envy?

Interesting…she must discuss this with the Second at some point in time.

For now however, she easily regained her composure, stepping away and 'strutting' as she knew it was called, away from Shinji towards the other members of her group.

"Uh…wow" was all Misato could say as she walked up.

"Hmm…not half bad" Asuka allowed with a grin on her face as she studied the effect. "Can I choose clothes, or _can I_…"

"I would be pleased if you continued to do so" Rei smiled slightly in return as she noticed the Section Two agents, each with a small number of bags trying to look make themselves look as small as possible, all with miserable looks on their faces. At Rei's curious look, Asuka followed her gaze, then snickered.

"Oh these are just some fashion accessories for you" Asuka shrugged, dismissing the already significant haul. "Some things to put in your hair, some hygiene products, beauty products, brushes, clips, ribbons, all the basics…" she said, trailing off as Shinji and Kaji both rejoined them.

"Well, I'm impressed. With Kaji's fashion sense to guide you, you don't actually dress up half bad Baka" Asuka commented with a raised eyebrow at Shinji as he rejoined them.

"And you…well, you'd look amazing no matter how you did your hair…but I really like it" he said in return in a slightly shy sounding voice to Rei, as if he was testing the waters…

"Well of _course_ you do" Asuka replied with an exasperated roll of her eyes as she turned to face Kaji…though Rei caught the twitch of a smile on the side of her face Shinji couldn't see at his complement.

"So, what do _you _think Kaji?" she asked in an all too 'sweet' tone as she batted her eyelids at him, clutching her hands together as she let her hair swing around for the best view.

"I think you're growing up far to fast" he said back with a slight smile, before he turned and bowed extravagantly to Misato –to both women's annoyance – and from nowhere producing a small, paper covered package with a flourish. "And for you, Misato-Chan, as a token of my undying esteem. I'll see you all later" he said, backing away and vanishing down a nearby stairwell to what looked like Asuka's consternation and Shinji's surprise.

Misato raised an eyebrow and looked at the box carefully, examining it as if she was worried it could contain a live N2 warhead…but in the end, curiosity ran out and she ripped open the paper.

Inside, was a bright yellow and black book.

"Parenting for Dummies, 4th Edition" the Kanji proclaimed along the top.

Misato's face held her expression for a good five seconds, then she finally looked up and a wry smile came across her face as she smiled with true appreciation for the humor of his gift.

"Funny. I'll have to kill him later of course, but funny".

"They were all out of 'Parenting for Parents with Temperamental Germans" Shinji added helpfully, resulting in a loud meaty 'thwock' as Asuka's fist crashed into his arm, Shinji yelping slightly as he jumped back and rubbed it.

"You've made progress today Third Child" Asuka said, with a narrowing of her eyes. "Don't push it".

"Jawohl Mein Fuhrer" Shinji smirked back…which of course caused Asuka to advance on him with narrowing eyes-

"Alright, cool it you two, playtime can wait" Misato broke in before Asuka could retaliate, the Second 'humphing', but letting it go as she turned back to Rei.

"Well! Now that the Baka has rejoined us, we can finally get this day underway! You four are dismissed" Asuka said without so much as a _by your leave _from Misato, waving at the Section Two agents, who without hesitating to look at the Operations Director for orders, promptly dumped the bags at the feet of the Shinji and fled for the nearest stairwell.

"Hmm. Perhaps we shouldn't have dragged them through the ladies toiletries section after all" Misato frowned, before shrugging and dumping her own bag next to the others.

"Hey!" Shinji protested in surprise and fear as he looked over the plastic bags at his feet in dismay.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Asuka demanded impatiently. "Be a man and get moving!"

Shinji glanced at Rei, who retuned a look that offered him no sympathy. If this was the custom, then this was the custom and he had no choice but to follow orders of the Second and Captain…though she had to admit she did find it a trifle unfair.

Slowly, albeit with great dignity, Shinji reached down and managed to take up the bags, with a betrayed look on his face.

"Better!" Asuka snapped with a delighted expression on _her _face at the look on_ his_, then reached out and took a firm hold of Rei's hand, followed shortly by Misato on the other side, both of them hurrying her along into a cross passage, then a massive multi level, long building, with countless busy shop fronts doing a brisk trade.

"Now" Asuka said in a tone like a teacher, causing Rei to listen closely and start 'taking notes'. "To begin with, we need some casual clothes you can just wear when you're lazing around. Then some 'going out' clothes of various types suitable to various needs, as well as a moderate amount of undergarments and so on".

"Going out clothes…this would include clothes to go to a dance?"

"Not really, that's formal fashion, stuff like dresses and…and…why do you ask?"

Rei raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Because the Summer Dance is only two and a half weeks away" she replied, not quite expecting the reaction she got.

"WHAT?" Asuka all but screeched, drawing a few looks from people around them that she either didn't see or didn't care about.

"Because the Summer Dance is only"- Rei tried to repeat, only to be cut off with a glare that baffled Rei.

"WHY wasn't I TOLD about this?" Asuka cried? "How long has this been planned? Oh my GOD I don't have anything to WEAR!" she all but wailed. "I don't have a DATE!" Her head snapped around to pierce Shinji, who prudently took a step back".

"Why wasn't I informed about this? Oh my God, I don't have a date! What about you Rei?"

"I am…taking" Rei rolled the work, thus far unused by her in _that _context and decided she liked it, "classmate Aida to the dance".

"That stooge? Oh well, I guess he's not as bad as Toji, what Hikari see's in him I have no idea. What about you Third Child?" she challenged him with a smirk…but Rei, yet again saw through the mask to the suddenly nervous Asuka under…as if she was worried about the answer…

Deciding to put her at ease, Rei jumped in before a slightly stuttering Shinji could think of a response.

"Classmate Tanaka offered to accompany Pilot Ikari to the dance, but he declined and let it be known that he was disinclined to participate in the Summer Dance, to a great deal of disappointment by most of the female classmates in class 3F".

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka snapped at Shinji, who took a careful step back, holding 'Rei's' purchases up like a shield as Asuka's anger –her own shield for a suddenly vulnrable heart Rei thought- flared. "Why the hell wouldn't you want to go? It's a DANCE"

"Because I'm not anything like a sociable as you" he snapped back, before looking away somewhat embarrassed with his face blushing as he looked away. "Because…because I didn't know any of the girls who had offered to go with me at all, because I don't know how to dance, because I've never been good in those kinds of situations. Happy?"

_He is deciving her... _Rei suddenly realized with the slightest narrowing of his eyes. _He is telling the truth...but he is not truly embarrassed..._

"You really are an idiot" Asuka said in an impressed tone, before frowning. "Well, fortunately for you, your stupidity is also your gain. I need a date, you're it".  
"Wh..what?" Shinji asked, his head snapping back around as Asuka rolled her eyes and again Rei noticed the genuine flash of emotion there...he was _happy _that she had just asked him, in contrast to his current persona.

This was indeed fascinating behavior to learn from...

"Its simple. We're learning to dance together on that damn machine Misato is forcing us to-"

"Asuka" Misato chided her.

"_nice _machine that Misato is _generously loaning us _for our _very _important training_" _Asuka grudgingly corrected herself. "We're learning to dance together anyway, what the hell is one a couple of more dances to learn? And besides, I _need _a Date, I can't show up alone! And while I'm sure every boy in our class would probably drop to their face my feet begging for a chance if I asked them, I'd rather not make an enemy of an 'ex-date' who got dumped for me. So, well…I need you, it's that simple. _Any objections?"_

Shinji wordlessly shook his head slowly as if afraid to make any sudden movements.

"Good! Well first we'll get Rei's shopping done, then you can go home while I find something to wear. Damn it, so little time!" she fretted, before yanking on Rei's arm and hurrying her into motion, Rei managing to catch Shinji's eye with a look that spoke volumes and got a sheepish smile back that made her smile slightly in return, before Asuka started running her through the shops.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon passed in something of a blur for Rei. Shinji started to carry an increasingly heavy load as time went on and the pair of women moved her from one location to another, trying on countless clothes of various styles and cuts. Rei admitted she utterly _loved_ the feel of silk on her newly sensitive skin; like she was wearing a garment of water that flowed over her body. 

Other types of clothes from tops to pants, from bras to shoes all slowly were purchased as her account dwindled…but even Asuka was hard pressed to put a dent in close to ten million yen.

But oh she _tried._

Poor Ikari finally reached the point that Misato called the other two Section Two agents over from their 'fly on the wall spot' to help out, the two men giving Shinji a sympathetic look as they divided up the load, the two men still grunting slightly at the number of bags. Misato was, as promised, brought what Rei thought was a very tight fighting black dress that Asuka thought was cut a little _too _daringly, but Misato insisted on buying. Asuka purchased relatively little, but _did_ stop to buy a rather 'adult' looking red and white stripped swimsuit that made even Rei blush and Shinji nearly faint when she emerged from the change room to push into his _very _personal space, demanding his opinion.

Rei decided on balance that Asuka found his blush and stammering a sign of approval, whirling around to return and put on her clothes again and buy the suit.

Finally though, evenMisato put her foot down, mostly because Shinji was all but pleading with her as he continually was forced to drop several of the bags and massage his arms.

"Oh all right" Asuka sighed, glancing longingly at some of the eveningwear further along, then shrugging and glancing over Shinji and the two Section 2 agents, who between them had so many bags their knees were starting to shake. "I can bring Rei back to finish up and get our dresses for the dance some other day I guess. Besides" she added with a sly smile towards the exhausted Shinji, "I don't think Shinji could take seeing us in something _too_ slinky".

Shinji Rei saw, closed his eyes and mouthed what she believed to be a short prayer as he realized the day was almost over, appearing to suddenly finding new reserves of energy to follow the girls even as Asuka and Misato appeared to look slightly tired.

Accepting the offered 'lift' this time without question, Rei rode in the back with Shinji and all the bags that couldn't fit in the small boot as Misato gunned the engine then roared down to Rei's apartment.

"So, did you three have fun today?" Misato asked loudly over the roar of the engine before downshifting and screeching around a corner to the sound of several horns that dopplar shifted from a high pitched scream to a low pitched roar as they sped away.

"Uh huh, you bet!" Asuka grinned, looking eminently satisfied with her experience.

"It was a very pleasant day" Rei admitted, secretly still finding the simplest pleasure in stroking the underside of her arm and the now sensitive skin there.

Shinji simply made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a grunt, holding his own few clothes purchases and an odd package wrapped in brown paper.

Quicker then Rei could possibly have thought, they arrived at her place, this time everyone taking an equal number of Rei's bags in hand –though Rei noted Asuka quickly accepted the lightest ones- up to her apartment. Again feeling slightly embarrassed as she led them inside, Rei directed them to place the bags in a clean area along one wall.

"Well, you'll be out of here in a couple of days" Asuka said brightly as she looked around the room with a barely hidden look of unease. "So you might want to leave most of this in these bags, no point taking them out and packing them back up again two days later!"

"Understood" Rei nodded.

There was a slightly uncomfortable silence.

"Well, we'll all see you at headquarters tomorrow for the combat simulation training" Misato cheerfully said. "Until then, see you later!"

"Goodbye" Rei said, offering a slight bow as they exited. Shinji the last to leave shot her a very penetrating look with a grin on his face, before closing the door behind him.

Rei stood there for several minutes…

Then spent the next six hours trying on every single outfit, altering, changing, coordinating, learning, adapting, evolving and studding her reflection in the mirror with a critical eye.

By the time she was finished, night had fallen long ago and so she dressed for the first time in her new sleeping clothes, shivering in the cool night air at the slick feel of the silk against the Goosebumps on her skin, lying down on her bed and letting a content smile cross her face as she luxuriated in sensations in her fourteen years on this planet, she had never felt.

_Instrumentality _a treasonous thought whispered across her mind before she fell into her dreamless sleep, _be _damned.

* * *

Okay, perhaps it wasn't such a tiny nod to Shinji and Warhammer, but damn it I loved that sequence. Of course, it was used with permission of Charles Bhepin. And when Rei is 'strutting' out towards Aida, I have to admit I was playing 'Extreme Ways' from the Bourne Ultimatum soundtrack...and seeing her moving in slow motion.  
Cliche? Probably. But most writing is :) 

Also, I've had a surprsing amount of people not apparently liking the Ayanami + Aida hookup. I can understand that -Shinji is NOT going to be 'doing the dirty' with someone he looks on as a Sister people :P - but I'm not planning to push it that fast. In fact I'd be surprised if they ended up beyond second base by the end of this fanfic. Think of them more as increasingly close friends as they slowly start to understand each other a bit more...so don't panic. Yet.

And enjoy the rampant humor in this trilogy while it lasts, hardball stars the chapter after this. Not that there won't be funnies, but we're going to be heading increasingly darker over the next few Angel battles, at least after the dance. But Shinji has had enough of a head start now, its time for the bad guys to start playing catchup...


	13. Three Colors: Purple

This chapter...I hated.  
Mostly because I hated myself. I wrote myself into a corner without even realizing it.

I mean think about it. A 'debriefing' is really just sitting around and regurgitating information. Its like 'Okay, we've seen Evangelion, we have the DVD boxsets, can we move on?' followed by 'Okay, yes we GET it, you have Angst issues! Enough already!'  
By the same token, it feels horribly cheap to say 'Okay then, so I arrived at Tokyo-3...' followed by a 'scene change', then back to 'Wow, that was an amazing story that answered all my questions!'

Making it twice as hard was that this was part of a non conventional trilogy which is written from one of each of the pilots perspectives, with only an occasional 'switch' of camrea focus, still on the main character, without the ability to simply 'cut' somewhere else to show a time cut, nor just have Shinji fall asleep and go through some stupid dream on a stupid train that only appearntly runs as sunset as he crys over the fact that Gendo kidnapped Pen-Pen and will kill him if he doesn't marry Rei...or something.

Okay, rant over.

I think I'm not utterly happy with this chapter. It was part of a grand experiment sure, but I would find it irritating if everyone loved Red and White only to have it finished with a 'So-So' chapter of 'Purple', mostly because the 'old Shinji' had to come out a bit here at times.

Frankly though, I'm just glad its done. The three chapters together are insane weighing in at 56,666 words.

Is THAT a terrifying sign or what? Sometimes Eva just gets a little _too _weird for me.

Anyway.

There is a little nod to ANOTHER Fanfic in this one, not an Eva fanfic, just a line I found so perfect for the moment I decided to borrow it. Cookie to the first person to spot it. And yes, again, the Author knows and I have their full permission to use it.

And so we come to the final third of this chapter. Enjoy. It'll be a while before you see any more, this hasn't exactly burned me out, but watching the _Apollo _and _Daedalus _on Stargate Atlantis bitchslap Ancient warships around and silencing the people who, for no logical or 'in universe reason' kept screaming that the Asgard were second and would have been slapped down if the Ancients had sent an Aurora or two against them, has revived my need to write more Derelict. Fast.

Enjoy!**  
**

**Three Colors: Purple**

Shinji Ikari did not see the sun rise over Tokyo-3.

This was not because, as one might assume, he was asleep.

In fact he was wide awake in his small room, lying on his bed with a blank mask over his face as he considered and rejected the idea of trying to go to sleep as the Earth rotated at a thousand miles per hour towards the dawn, his entire focus remaining on the ceiling tiles above him. This 'familiar ceiling' had been a source of comfort for him the 'last time' he had faced every trial in his life, an anchor for his sanity that would always be here, the place he could run away from the world.

On the other hand, he had spent far too many sleepless nights hiding from the world around him by doing _exactly_ this. Lying with his SDAT and listening in vain to find some kind of peace by running from reality into the bars of Mozart or Bach.

His first considered act after he had settled 'this time' into Misatos place and pulled his SDAT out of his bag, had been to take _that_ tape and tear it to pieces, throwing it into the bin in an uncharacteristic rage at how many wasted days he had spent moping around feeling sorry for himself. He had seriously considered throwing the SDAT in after it, but it was one of his few precious personal items, a 'hand me down' from his Uncle and while he could now easily afford a modern MP4 player, he had ultimately decided to keep the SDAT and redeem it into something of _joy_ and not simply an _escape hatch_ that ultimately led nowhere.

This morning however, he found himself wishing, if only for a second, that he hadn't destroyed the tape and its selection of classical music. His replacement tapes had included a rather eclectic mixture of music from around the world he was quite enjoying…but he would have killed to escape from reality, if even for a few minutes.

Then the second passed and he sighed in annoyance at himself for entertaining _any _such thought of running away when today might be the day he changed the course of history for the better.

History…changing history. Such a terrifying thought when he really thought about it and the responsibility it meant he was taking into his hands. He had never really considered wider concerns outside his immediate world when he was piloting the 'first time' around. Defeating the Angels was just something that needed to be _done _and that was that. But suddenly the idea that a hundred years from now, some school kids would open their books and learn about 'The Angel War', about the heroes and villains, write an essay on what a fucked up guy Shinji Ikari must have been…

_Well, if humanity is_around_ to read_ _about me a hundred years from now, well, then I guess that's a win _he decided as he struggled to his feet, putting the thought out of his mind as he glanced at the clock.

Six AM.

Oh well, late enough.

Shinji exited his room quietly, sliding the door open and shut carefully so as to not disturb anyone else who was actually managing to get a good nights sleep. There was just enough light for him to make his way up the corridor so he decided not to hit a light…but he paused at Asuka's room, noticing the door was slightly ajar.

Which meant either she was awake for some reason –not bloody likely, Asuka HATED early starts- or she had left the door open accidentally. Quietly, he stepped up, and despite the very real risk he would end up roasted for daring to look into her sanctuary, he had a quick peak inside…

Just to make sure she was okay.

At least that's what he firmly told himself.

He was _not _hoping to catch her in minimal clothing without sheets…not in the slightest.

Absolutely not.

Looking in, his worries vanished…and it was all he could do not to laugh out loud at the sight that greeted him.

Asuka had half fallen off her futon.

Her upper body remained on it, somehow, but her legs were kicked out towards the middle of her room at an almost 90 degree angle to the bed. One of her pillows was still under her head –for now- but the other was held tightly to her chest, almost like she was holding on to someone or something in her sleep, as she shifted slightly with a sigh…the movement showing that she had somehow managed to tie her legs together with her sheets.

_How_ she had done that, Shinji didn't know…but it looked very impressive.

_If only she had an alarm clock I could set, make her jump up…_

Controlling himself, he dared to drink in a final look at her soft, beautiful face, wreathed by her uncontrolled hair that splayed all over her pillow and shoulders before sighing and easing back to slide the door closed gently. Turning, he tiptoed past the snoring sound of a lawnmower set onto a pile of gravel coming from Misato's room with a shake of his head, easing past the kitchen and up to laundry at the far end of the hallway, hitting the light and shutting the door behind him.

Humming softly to himself, he set up his guardians ancient but largely unused ironing board with practiced ease as he idly thought about how Misato was not just lazy enough to pay for her laundry to be done, but _so _lazy that she ordered Hyuga to drop it off and pick it up as part of his job. It was something he had _tried_ to change, using simple short words to walk Misato through the process of washing and drying clothes, but for all his knowledge he might as well have tried to stop the tide coming in as get Misato to do her own laundry. Not that it stopped her complaining in righteous indignation over the cost of having it _done_ of course, but logical consistency was never one of Misato's strong points.

Fifteen minutes later he gathered his clothes for the day -typical black pants and a simple white polo shirt would suffice- before carefully packing everything up and heading for the bathroom, stepping around Asuka's still plentiful boxes and resisting the urge to rife through them while she wasn't looking. Instead, he grabbed a fresh towel from the small cupboard next to the bathroom and ducked inside, deciding he would at least get _some _advantage to getting up so early when he had the bathroom unquestionably to himself.

One long, hot shower later and he dried off, looking around with a slight smile on his face at how, despite sleeping here for barely two nights, Asuka had managed to take over half the bathroom shelf space with her own 'stuff', shrinking Misato to half and forcing him to find a few scattered locations on the floor for _his_ few body care products…and he wasn't stupid enough to get in the middle of the fight as Misato and Asuka slowly started to test their 'new' relationship. Shinji knew that Misato had been Asuka's guardian for a time before Kaji and they had gotten on at least _moderately_ well, but now they were in the unusual and frictional relationship of an adolescent girl going through puberty and on the cusp of womanhood, living in the same house as her Guardian _and_ Commanding Officer….

As with any of Asuka's relationships, Shinji recalled her interaction with Misato as loud, noisy and full of turbulence, but under it all Shinji _knew _there was a bond from Asuka, as she latched onto the one women she had truly started to make _some _kind of maternal connection to, one who didn't _try_ or _seek_ to replace her _real _mothers place as her Step Mother had done…

He didn't know if Asuka had ever seen the way Misato had quietly and almost unwilling started to love her back, despite what a damn pain in the ass she could be. He had been too caught up in his own self pity at the time to notice, but now that he had the luxury of looking back, Shinji could see the heartbreak, the despair and utter helplessness after the battle with the 15th Angel on Misatos face as she had tried everything she could to reach out to Asuka, only to be rebuffed by the newly titanium reinforced castle walls around her heart. Nor had Asuka seen the vigil Misato had kept both by her bedside in the hospital then at home near the phone after she had been left catatonic by the 16th...

Nor would had Asuka have ever seen or known the shear _rage_ that Misato had felt when Akagi had snickered that her 'perfect family' was breaking down around her…nor just how close Misato had come to sending her once best friend flying across the room with a back-spin kick for her thinly veiled sneer at Asuka's mental state compared to her mother after she had been brought into protective custody.

Well, they might have been a dysfunctional family, but they _were_ his family none the less…and as always, _that _thought was more powerful then anything else in banishing the doubts, the fear and anything else that might make him step back from doing whatever it took to protect them.

Fighting for humanity was an ideal.

Fighting for the people he loved, _that…_thatwas _real_.

Taking care to not disturb any of his housemate's toiletries, he got dressed quickly and stuffed his clothes in the hamper. Heading outside into the living room as he finished combing his hair into something approaching nearness, he noticed to his surprise that the sun had risen while he showered. Glancing at the clock, he saw over an hour had passed since he had gotten up, he must have spent more time in the shower then he had thought.

Thankfully, the building had plenty of hot water.

He opened the verandah door to hang his damp towel out on a small railing before gently closing it back up, turning-

And almost yelping and falling back in surprise as he came face to face with Misato, still in her rather minimal sleeping attire.

"G'morning' she yawned as she walked –or stumbled- past him for the kitchen, either not noticing or not at this point caring about her appearance as she moved for the nearest supply of either alcohol or caffeine…

And _damn _her legs were _smooth-_

_No _Shinji that's a _bad Shinji_! He mentally slapped himself around before shaking his head as Misato managed to slap at the coffee machine and start it peculating.

"Well" he said, closing the verandah door and heading into the kitchen after Misato, "you're up early".

"Don't remind me" she groaned as she reached for a beer and cracked the can. Shinji wasn't exactly pleased to see her back to starting the day with a beer, but she only did it infrequently and, as a minor miracle, only ever cracked _one_ can. She had even confessed to him that she found that she wasn't quite so tired in the morning anymore, which Shinji only took as a good sign…though he still held out hope that he could completely wean her off the morning beer, given enough time…

Gulp…gulp…gulp…gulp…burp….and at that point, Shinji reached over and placed a hand over her mouth, to the surprise of Misato who caught on when he raised a finger to his lips in warning and jerked his head back towards Asuka's room.

She caught on to his meaning and nodded, looking a little sheepish as Shinji removed his hand.

"Yee-ha" she whispered with a playful wink and a sticking out of her tongue at him.

"Oh act your age" he muttered with his own smirk as he stepped past her to start lifting out the various things needed for a breakfast, including some purchases for Asuka he had made yesterday.

"Say" she commented in an interested tone as she flicked the can to the garbage bin with a negligent looking toss -that flew right into the small bin and spoke of a well honed skill in this area, "how did you know to get all of _this _for her?"

"I sort of did some research on European breakfasts" he lied with a shrug.

Well it was sort of true. Perhaps not _this _lifetime, but after two weeks of Asuka moaning about his the breakfasts he had cooked for her and doing nothing but saying 'I'm sorry!' again and again back at her, he had surprisingly worked up the courage to ask her what _she_wanted…and gotten a rather categorical and _exacting_ list from her…and the most brilliant smile when she had walked out the next day and found it all laid out for her, directed right at him…

Not that she had said anything but 'needs more salt', but that look and those two eyes had communicated more to him then words ever could…

"Earth to Ikari" Misato droned out in a mocking voice. "The fridge is about to reverse over you"

"What?" he demanded, glancing around as he snapped out of his flashback. Indeed, the fridge was beeping quite insistently at him much as trucks did when backing up…mostly because he was holding the door open and staring off into space.

"Heh, sorry" he smiled at her. "Just thinking".

"About Asssukkaaaa?" she teased with a wicked grin.

_Damn it got to throw her off course _he thought in a worriedtone. He didn't want to ruin this day for Asuka and Rei by having Misato butt the Second Child into 'a mood' before they even left the house!

"Actually about Kaji" he replied, throwing back at her the one thing, the _only _thing he could think of that might bring her to a sudden, crashing halt.

"Eh…what about him" she asked, nay, _demanded_ as he eyes narrowed.

_Excellent…_

"Oh, he might show up for a while today" Shinji shrugged.

Misato stared at him with an expression that suggested he had just said his Father had canceled Christmas for Tokyo-3.

"Why?" she demanded.

He shrugged at her with the same wicked smile she had teased him with.

"Guys stuff" he said. Her eyes narrowed even more.

"Now don't you let him go start corrupting you Shinji" she exhorted him as her toast popped and Shinji started to lay out the cooking utensils. "Under that smirking, messy, stubble covered face is a monster!"

"That's not what I heard you saying in your sleep last night" he commented idly.

Misato slapped him playfully on the back of his head, causing him to stumble slightly as he maneuvered the grill inside her oven.

"I don't need that kind of lip from you boy" she said with a mock scowl. "_I've_ grown up since that immature jerk and I broke up".

"And perhaps he has as well?" Shinji suggested with a smile.

"Who the hell are you, the matchmaker?" she rolled her eyes. "Look, just trust me, that guy is just bad news".

"Oh I know he is"Shinji nodded with a slightly knowing smirk. _Bad news to my Father, to Chairman Keel…_

"Ugh, you're incorrigible" she muttered at his smirk, rolling her eyes and reaching for a clean mug –a NERV mug she had shamelessly stolen from work- and poured the hot coffee into it, along with a shot of milk and a little sugar. "Ah that hits the spot" she sighed happily, and then to Shinji's astonishment, she downed the entire_scalding_ _hot_ mug in a handful of gulps and threw the cup down on the bench with a loud burp. "Well I'm off to have a shower before the princess wakes up" she declared, sauntering with much more energy off towards the bathroom as Shinji shook his head and continued to put together the pieces for the breakfast.

_How the hell can Asuka eat this and still keep _that_ figure? _Shinji wondered, not for the first time roughly fifty minutes later as he carefully laid out the European style breakfast of meats next to the toast he and Misato preferred. Misato had taken a surprisingly short shower before heading back to her room to change, possibly because he had heard Asuka stir –or more accurately the yelp and thud of Asuka falling to the ground from her tangled legs followed by twenty seconds of cursing in German- then proceed to demand unfettered access to the bathroom over the loud screaming come nails on blackboard sound Misato probably classified as 'singing' while inside the shower…

Ah mornings in the Misato Household. How he had missed this…

Shrugging, he cooked up a quick meal for his other housemate, placing Pen-Pen's sardines in his bowl on the floor before he walked to the table and looked over it with a critical eye. He had cheated when buying the food yesterday morning, already knowing exactly what Asuka liked and didn't like was a great help…but it meant he had what he hopped to be a perfect breakfast just about…done.

"Breakfast is ready!" he shouted. He had just enough time to walk back to the kitchen and scoop the last of Asuka's breakfast into place before she emerged and moved to the table…something about her getting his attention…though he couldn't see what exactly…

"Ohh, that smells good" she said with a look of surprise, then pleasure on her face as she stepped around Pen-Pen, flopping onto the floor onto a floor cushion and scooting closer as she looked in some minor approval at his efforts. "Well I have to say, having a house broken male around is a more useful thing then I gave Misato credit for" she declared in her usual indirect way of saying 'Thank You, Shinji' that he had long become used to, before she grabbed some cutlery and dug in.

Shinji slowly chewed down on his toast as he stared at her as she ate before it finally clicked…it was her hair. For all the time he had known her, she had let it hang free behind her and it had almost always included her A-10 clips which she used partially to hold out her hair, but mostly to advertise her superiority…though Toji had –privately- declared them to be a pubescent stage development of 'the demons horns'. He could barely recall any time he had seen her without them and combined with her suddenly tied back look…she looked…well-

"_What?" _Asuka suddenly demanded, dropping her fork and looking up at him.

Shinji swallowed slightly in surprise at her sudden outburst and the look he was receiving, not realizing he had been _that_ blatant as he stole glances at her, just unable to help himself…

"Your hair" he said, after swallowing his latest mouthful of toast past a suddenly dry throat. "It's just…well…without your A-10 clips and with it pulled back like that…you just look…"

"Yes?" she asked impatiently, but with a steady look that warned him louder then words of the consequences of not finishing his sentence truthfully.

Shinji's mind spun as he tried to think of a word that fit the bill that would not get him physically assaulted or mentally burned-

"Really, really stunning".

The words slipped out before Shinji's conscious mind was emailed by his un-conscious mind about its intentions, expressing his exact thoughts of the person sitting across from him without bothering to seek the approval in triplicate from the 'tact' or 'streetwise' departments in the active parts of his mind.

Asuka maintained her stare at him for a good three seconds before she blinked and looked away, muttering something unintelligible in German before pushing her empty plate forward and standing without a word to head back to her room.

Shinji made a mental note to fire everyone working in his unconscious mind with a sigh, closing his eyes as he leaned back against the wall separating the kitchen from the living room, enjoying the dull pain as he thumped his head into the wall as he heard the first thundercloud on today's horizon rumble in the distance.

"Wark".

Opening his eyes, Shinji glanced at what he couldn't help but think of as a sympathetic look in Shinji's third housemate's eyes as he Pen-Pen waddled over to place his own now empty bowl on the table.

"Well I screwed _that_ up royally, didn't I?"

"Wark wark, wark?" the genetically engineered penguin inquired, moving over to join him.

Shinji snorted.

"It's simple" Shinji said to the Penguin, suddenly feeling dangerously whimsical, leaning in and dropping his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "See, I'm actually a time traveler from the future who's come back to stop my Father and/or SEELE from kicking off Third Impact. During the pre game entertainment to the main event last time, I managed to utterly betray Asuka and abandon her when she needed me the most, despite the fact that I thought I had fallen in love with her and thought I'd do _anything_ for her, up to and including_dying_…so I feel a little guilty right now whenever I look at her. But don't tell anyone, it's a secret" he finished with an admonishing look before he rocked to his knees and started to gather the plates.

The genetically engineered penguin stared at his back for several long, long seconds before continuing into the kitchen, retrieving a can from Misato's stash, stopping in consideration, retrieving a second, and retreating into his fridge.

"Yeah" Shinji muttered as he stacked the plates in the dishwasher. "That's about what I thought you'd say".

After he finished cleaning up, he flopped down onto the floor in front of the TV and flipped through the channels idly before turning it off after nothing much hit his interest, trying to marshal his calm and stay away from the thought that he might have screwed this entire days exercise up before it even started. As always around Asuka, it was all too easy to work himself up into a frenzy of worry, but with a little effort, he kept his thoughts at least reasonably calm. It had only taken him ten minutes to clean up breakfast and another five to finish getting ready, brushing his hair more carefully and finding a clean pair of socks, but Asuka still had not emerged from her room. Glancing now at his watch he saw it was getting very close to Eight Thirty, the time Asuka had 'told him' they were going to leave last night.

Still, he marshaled his calm and waited, praying that he hadn't screwed up what he had hoped to be the start of a new day-

"Well don't you look handsome" another voice almost purred from the other side of the house. Feeling his fretting diminish slightly, Shinji turned a wry grin on Misato as she 'heal-toed' her way towards him in her favorite brown dress. A dress Shinji vaguely recalled had been ruined by the N2 detonation when he had first arrived 'the last time', but this time was still around to hug her figure like a second skin.

"And you look…um…"

"Yes?' she asked with an arch expression that caused Shinji to grin.

He at least knew Misato was teasing. Asuka…God only knew half the time. And probably not even _him_.

"I'd say at least an eight point seven on the cuteness scale"

"What? That's it? She exclaimed in an astonished voice with a roll of her eyes. "I think we need to buy you some glasses while we're out shopping!"

"Will that make you look better or worse?" he asked with a confused mock grin, that resulted in his guardian pouncing and ruining his carefully brushed hair despite his muffled protests…which even to his ears came out half hearted. Misato, also quick to pick up on his moods released him and settled next to him with a slightly more serious expression on her face as she studied his.

"So" she said. "Where's Asuka?"

Shinji glanced at her, somehow unsurprised that she had picked up that something had happened…but then again, this was only Asuka's second night here, so it wasn't exactly like it was difficult to guess at what might have caused his slight mood shift as he sat out here, alone.

"In her room" he said back, returning her gaze. "I…think I might have insulted her or something…I was just trying to say how I liked the way her hair looked but…I think I might have uh-"

"Baka" a second voice broke into the conversation carrying the tone of a sigh of sarcasm mixed in with amusement, causing Shinji's eyes to widen slightly before he got himself under control and turned to face behind him.

Asuka stood there, leaning casually against the wall.

"Only in _your _mind would you consider complementing someone as a reason for her to leave the table. For future references, _I_ went to finish getting_ready._"

"Uh…noted" was about all he could say, barely managing to dodge apologizing as she slowly levered herself off the wall, her combination of shirt and denim shorts leaving her perfectly toned midriff bear and showing a maximum amount of skin off, while still being cut in such a way to suggest maturity.

It wasn't a look many people could pull off, but Asuka wasn't just any person.

Her hair, Shinji couldn't help but smile at. She had brushed it into a smooth, silky ponytail, gathered at the middle of her neck with a bright red ribbon, the silky threads shimmering slightly in the light, making it look like an auburn waterfall that lived and danced as she flicked her head.

"Well?" she challenged him with a smirk, whirling around in place and causing her hair to splay around like a multithreaded whip. "How does my hair look _now _Third Child?"

"More stunning" he said without hesitation this time, a slight smile on his lips.

"Well, did you expect anything less?" she pointed out with an arch look that thawed after a few seconds into a slight smile, as if _she _was pleased that_he _was pleased.

"Come on Asuka, stop trying to make Shinji fall unconscious from blood loss, we have shopping to do!"

At the magic 'S' word, Asuka promptly forgot all about him and giggled almost manically, making Shinji cringe into the lounge.

_If Kaji isn't on schedule to 'extract' me from all of this _Shinji thought to himself, _I am a dead man…_

* * *

One terrifying car trip later and again, Shinji felt himself slowly believing in Religion. 

It was a rather simple process, starting with the assumption that no mortal could possibly defy luck as much as Misato did.

In turn, this proved the existence of divine intervention.

Thus, by definition, the existence of deities.

QED

Offering a short prayer of thanks to whatever (or whoever) watched over him when inside the blue car, Shinji stepped out after Asuka to the steadily filling up parking garage smack bang in the middle of the Tokyo-3 shopping district, noting the small groups of ordinary people moving around even this early in the morning and reflecting on what it meant for the city at large.

The twenty five percent initial drop in civilian population after the Third Angel's attack was slowly being drawn back, mostly because property prices in a city made largely up of brand new state-of-the-art housing had plummeted after the initial Angel attacks and evacuations. Rather quickly however, more then a few people started to notice the absurdly low prices being asked for by near desperate real estate corporations. Combine that with the fact that actual direct civilian casualties from the Angels inside Tokyo-3 were still at zero and more then a few business minded individuals started to narrow their eyes and think.

For the same price as a tiny two bedroom apartment in Tokyo-2, one could buy an apartment six times the size in Tokyo-3. With money left over! In a city which had better then full employment, with the construction and repair operations working almost overtime, with rumors going around that the long delayed 7th Construction Phase of NERV's intercept system was about to be approved, meaning even _more _work and_more _contracts…

Suddenly, the same factors that had caused the economic downturn and population exodus were causing a boom and attracting countless people from all over Japan.

It was utterly crazy, but as Shinji had read in one of Pen-Pen's papers that was just the way economics worked, where perception was probably more important then truth. The population was up to a stabilized ten percent drop from the Pre-Angel numbers and was expected to stay there, partially because more then a few high density housing structures damaged in earlier battles were being rebuilt into weapons blocks.

But it hadn't stopped them finding a place for Rei…

_That_ meeting with the Vice Commander had taken place yesterday. As Shinji had fully expected, Fuyutsuki had been uneasy over the idea of moving his Fathers 'pet project' without consulting him, but was trapped, again, by the fact that Rei was just a 'strange kid', nothing more or less.

Asuka had opened up with a full time on target bombardment of questions over the buildings safety and its near condemned status, followed by the danger of her living alone out in the middle of an area that was increasingly becoming a wasteland of new construction and development, finishing up with a scathing rebuke over the unsanitary conditions that would warrant a biohazard sign being placed on her door.

It was deeply amusing to Shinji Ikari to see the Professor struggle to counter the fiery young Undergraduates points, mostly because Shinji knew there _were_perfectly logical reasons from his point of view.

One; Rei was expandable.

Of course point two; Rei was expandable.

And if all else failed, three; Rei was expandable.

The only reason Rei lived by herself in the middle of nowhere, as best Shinji could work out, was that her entire life _had_ been something of a form of sensory deprivation. Far more mild to be sure then eliminating all stimuli, but enough to dull her perceptions of the world around her during the early, critical years of development. Asuka and Shinji's protests had trapped the Vice Commander who clearly wanted to defer to the Commander, but as the nominal person in charge of personnel, he didn't really have any realistic excuse to do that, especially given the horrible conditions Rei was living in.

Magnanimous in victory, Asuka had profusely thanked Fuyutsuki, walking up to give the surprised elderly man a quick peck on the cheek before whirling and heading out of the office.

Shinji settled for a giving him a shrug, which he thought the professor was grateful for.

The paperwork had gone through yesterday afternoon. Very fast, but it helped that Tokyo-3 was very much the 'company town' –literally as NERV owned 58 of the buildings either directly or indirectly- and tomorrow, Rei would move into an apartment in a building just across the road from their own that Asuka had dragged Shinji to inspect and declared 'acceptable'. Without asking for his opinion, which made him wonder why he had had to come…

But first, Asuka insisted on buying several metric tons worth of things they had nowhere to _put _as yet.

"Damn it, we're still five minutes early" Asuka pouted as they came up to the doors to the massive shopping center that formed the heart of the shopping district of Tokyo-3. "Hey Misato, try your access card and code on that lock!" she said, pointing to the security panel next to the door, Shinji starting to worry slightly that Asuka was taking this whole thing a _little _too far…

Fortunately, Misato still had her head screwed on straight…for now.

"Asuka" Misato replied with a patient tone, "that code is for emergency use only".

"But this _is _an emergency!" Asuka wailed, pointing down the street. "Ayanami is coming and she needs new clothes, stat!"

Shinji turned to look. Yes, that indeed was Rei, he would recognize her anywhere…and sure enough, she was dressed in her omnipresent school uniform, which even Shinji had to admit would probably look a little odd on a Saturday outside of school grounds.

"She can't go shopping looking like that!"

_What, Asuka is going to call this whole thing _off

"She…needs to go shopping, to go shopping?" Shinji protested in confusion. Sure he had seen inside Asuka's mind to a _very _deep level during the blending of Third Impact, but there were some things, as a male, Shinji was just still predisposed to not understand in any shape or form-

And instantly at his moment of 'male' weakness, Asuka was on him like a shark that sensed blood in the water.

"What are you, stupid?" Asuka demanded, turning on him and causing her gathered hair to whirl around in a stunning display in the early morning light that elected a faint moan from half the males roughly their age in the immediate area. "She can't go shopping looking like that! It's just not done, don't you know anything?"

"I…uh…." was about all that came out of Shinji's mouth in reply as her eyes stabbed into his own.

"Humph. I thought as much! A typical male" Asuka replied in a dismissive –but subtly teasing and amused- tone that suggested she was bearing far too much in her life, before turning back towards Rei. "Hey! Ayanami, over here!" she hollered out as Shinji gathered his wits and turned to Misato.

"Typical male?" he appealed, as if she was the umpire in this game he didn't know he had apparently been playing.

His purple haired guardian, who had been watching their interplay with a tolerant but amused expression simply laughed at him.

"Yes Shinji, you _are_ a typical male, but we women _need_ typical males along with our shopping trips" she said, reaching over to ineffectually tussle his hair again and thus missed noticing the person approaching her from behind.

"Well I am _so_ glad to hear you say that" Kaji said, causing Misato to suddenly freeze in place, her eyes almost popping out of her face in shock before she whirled.

"KAJI!" came Asuka's expected shout before she crashed across the five meters that separated them in a blur to latch onto his arm in delight.

She however, wasn't the only person happy to see him, Shinji breathing out a slow sigh of relief at his presence.

"Hey there Kido" Kaji smiled down at the girl clinging onto him with what looked like an iron grip, "I _love_ that hairstyle" he added, somehow not surprising Shinji that he had instantly spotted the change in Asuka's head…given that he was looking more or less directly down at her head from where she was holding onto him.

Well that and Shinji knew Kaji was paid by at _least_ three different groups to watch out for things, so at a guess, Kaji's powers of observation had probably been trained to a rather formidable level by now.

"Really?" Asuka breathed in an all too 'girly' voice at Kaji at his freely given complement which she instantly took, held close to her heart and ran away laughing with as Shinji got ready for the long 'I did it all for you!' speech-

"It was just an impromptu decision" Asuka replied, crashing Shinji's thought processes to a halt.

_Did Asuka just pass up a chance to flirt with Kaji?_

"So! You're coming shopping with me…err…us?"

_Well, perhaps not…_

"Well actually, yes and no" the Inspector shrugged, getting Shinji's instant attention, Asuka's confusion and Misato's cautious relief. "I came to grab Shinji; I thought we might go shopping for some boys stuff while you ladies have fun".

Shinji exchanged a smile with Kaji, a sudden feeling of relief passing through him at the almost offhand comment, combined paradoxically with a sudden buildup of deep tension as he realized this _was _it, the chance to set the ball rolling was only hours, possibly minutes away and for good or ill, he was about to cast his lot in with the Japanese Government…

The same Government that had given orders to storm NERV, shoot, stab, burn, gas and otherwise slaughter thousands of people, only a handful of which were even remotely deserving of such a fate…

_You've made your choice _Shinji reminded himself as his mind wandered, _now accept the consequences and make sure that it doesn't happen again!_

Shinji opened his mouth to accept the gracious invitation from Kaji, when Asuka suddenly butted in as she slowly let go for Kaji with an odd look in her eyes.

"But…but I –we- need him to…carry everything!" she whined in protest.

_That's a dodge _he thought at once, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly as Rei stepped up to the group out of the corner of his eye. _What did she really want me along for? Must be a prank…but what prank?_

His thought was not answered when Rei 'offered the services' of the Section Two agents dutifully following them, Asuka and Misato at once press ganging them into service and Shinji could only pity the poor fools, wondering if his Father would here after make 'mule-men for the Second Child and Captain Katsuragi' a punishment detail for NERV personnel in the future.

Even if the rest of this day ended up being a blowout, not having to follow _those _two around and carry their bags for hours on end could only be a _good_thing…

Focusing his attention back, he noticed Asuka and Misato were busy laying down the law to the poor quartet of Agents who had 'won' the 'honor' of being their packhorses, but Rei was standing slightly apart, looking –at least to him- more then a little unsure about herself, so he edged over and gave her a smile.

"I know this might seem a little overwhelming" he said softly into those twin scarlet eyes that had such hidden depth to them, "but Asuka and Misato really mean well by all this".

"I understand" Rei replied in the same tone as if he had just given her an order, causing him to try and recast his thoughts...

"Think of it as a learning experience" he suggested getting a suddenly interested look at that suggestion. "If you want to understand more about…human interaction" he said, feeling himself stepping dangerously close to relieving his knowledge about Rei and managing to hold back on the side of caution, "then think of this as a lesson in the kind of thing most girls your age dream of doing".

"Then…I will endeavor to show my appreciation" Rei said.

"No, its not about showing appreciation Rei, though I'm sure they'll…um…appreciate it" Shinji said with a faintly amused look. "It's about _you_having _fun!_"

"Perhaps" she said with a slight sigh. "But I am not sure how I will do this…if I do not understand".

"That's what learning is about" Shinji replied, resisting the urge to reach over and shake some sense into his 'sister' and her circular logic. "Life isn't a textbook Rei, some things you can only learn by doing".

"Then I will do" she declared. "But…I am not sure about what I will purchase to wear".

"Well…" he considered slowly, a vague thought slowly coalescing as he recalled something Hama Tanaka, the leader of Unit Ones 'tech crew' had mentioned about his Mother once…and how she _loved_ the feel of silk…

"You might want to try something made of silk" Shinji suggested, not entirely sure if genetics worked that way…but hell, it was a place to start.

"I will do so" Rei said, looking slightly more cheerful now that she had at least _an_idea of what she might be looking for, but any further conversation was cut off as with a rattle, the gates started to open at exactly 9AM.

"Alright! Lets do this thing!" Asuka cried out suddenly as the gathered crowed started to surge inside. "Misato, where is-"

"Right this way!" Misato barked in her professional tone, grabbing one of Rei's hands as Asuka grabbed the other, the two yanking the, for once, _very_surprised looking First Child inside, four men following looking not _quite_ miserable, but close to it.

"What about the Third?" one of the two who stayed behind for a second asked, looking over at Shinji.

"It's alright, I've got him" Kaji smiled reassuringly as he came across to rejoin Shinji. The two agents, well aware of Agent Kaji's credentials as both a NERV officer and former Section Two agent nodded, and headed in after their poor comrades…albeit at a safe distance.

"That…was close" Shinji breathed in relief after the crowed had shuffled in, leaving only a handful of people around who were probably waiting for other people.

"Oh come on, would it have been that bad to sit around for a few hours waiting as the ladies got their faces painted, nails done and…and…"

Shinji just stared at him.

"Okay, fair point. Let's go shopping"

Stepping inside the huge brightly lit mall, Kaji took an immediate left turn, wandering through the mall in a seemingly random series of directions as he casually chatted with him about how he found living with Misato, sharing some stories that made him either crack up in laughter or blanch in horror, finally starting to understand why Misato had been so utterly adamant that she would _never _go near Kaji again at first, but able to eventually 'snap' and, well, screw his brains out after reaching a certain point down the road.

They really _were_ two sides of the same coin.

Kaji, while finding Shinji's opinions on Misato genuinely intriguing had most of his attention elsewhere at this point in time. They walked as they talked of course, Kaji flirting from store in almost a random fashion, but in a steady line away from the women's fashion areas, all the time using shop windows, reflective surfaces and all manner of other checks to look for any sign they were being tailed. Half a dozen JDA personnel orbited them, 'sanitizing' the area of any people who might not be who they appeared. One agent, an elegant young Japanese woman in business clothes briskly passed them with nothing more then a glance –not looking could be as much a giveaway _as _looking- her 'suit' crammed with sensors that sniffed the air around Shinji for any strange electronic signals. Two JDA agents inside a van in the car park squinted at their displays but found nothing, not even a Cell phone which Shinji had wisely left at home, a factoid that would probably earn him a rebuke from Misato, but not a major issue given that Kaji was with him.

Ultimately deciding that neither Shinji nor Kaji were being either electronically tracked, or, being followed, the team leader inside the same van raised an encrypted radio to his mouth and ordered the extraction with a single, completely nonsense sounding codeword.

Inside the shopping center which was steadily filling with more and more people, a man browsing in a book store replaced a book he was reading on the shelf and turned his back on the door as Kaji approached. Taking note of the signal, Kaji angled away to a nearby set of doors just as Shinji was wondering if he had misread Kaji's intentions today and he really _was _going to take him shopping, the pair exiting into another car park and descending a stairwell in silence to the basement level, a nimble four wheel drive with tinted windows pulling up as they reached the bottom level.

Inside the C4I van, a switch was thrown and the 7th Generation computer back at JDA Headquarters via datalink already hacked into the surveillance network, activated, Kaji and Shinji now visible on the monitors strolling out of the shopping center car park and into the more wild fleet markets, arcades and street stalls around the major shopping center, where surveillance was almost non existent.

"Get in, quick" Kaji ordered as the car door opened.

Shinji complied, Kaji ducking in behind him. The door was barely shut before the driver pulled away and out, driving up the exit ramp at a sedate speed and exiting into the streets easily, with by far the majority of traffic heading _in, _not out at this early morning hour.

After getting his seat belt on, Kaji turned to Shinji.

"Okay, this is what's going on" the older man said with a smile. "We're going to have a long talk with some people who have some questions for you, who want to hear what you can tell them. We'll have you back in the shopping center in three, possibly four hours, in plenty of time to grab a few things, and then meet up with the girls as they get out".

Kaji very deliberately didn't mention the JDA by name. Although it was extremely unlikely they were being monitored, until they got into the 'dead' room in the safe house, he wouldn't risk it. After all, if NERV was watching, Gendo would probably just jump to the conclusion he was still working for SEELE…which would be a large problem, but far better then the alternative of blowing Shinji's cover.

"Three or four hours? The girls can't possibly take _that _long getting a beauty treatment, can they?"

Kaji smirked and shook his head slightly as the car accelerated down towards the safe house, feeling pity at Shinji's utter naivety. "Oh Shinji you poor boy, you have no idea…"

* * *

Shinij Ikari had gotten hopelessly lost by the time the car came to a halt inside the garage of a detached villa, somewhere in downtown Tokyo-3. From some of the skyscrapers he had seen before they had turned in, he could guess their rough location, but if had been asked to find his way here again, he would have been utterly incapable of it, which spoke rather well of the skill and professionalism of the people into whose hands he had placed his life…which was probably a good thing. But he still couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy. Almost as if he had seen himself step into a valley in the distance, without any clue if he would see himself walk back up the other side. He was truly AWOL now, no-one other then Kaji knowing where he was, with no way to contact anyone if he needed help…and he didn't even have a clue_where _he was… 

And all it took to step out of the car when Kaji opened the door was the memory of Asuka's scream as a Lance of Longinus crashed through 'her' eye.

"Alright, we're here" Kaji spoke up in a startlingly smooth professional voice as he opened the door, but a confident and still friendly smile took some of the edge of it. It was a warning Shinji thought, that from this moment on, it was business time and Shinji nodded in acknowledgement as he stepped out into the otherwise empty garage.

A door opened in front of them and a business suited man who looked disturbingly identical to a generic Section Two agent stepped out, giving a polite bow as he held up a thin, half meter rod connected via a slim wire to a PDA.

"Electronics sweep" Kaji explained at Shinji's questioning look. "Just to make sure none of us tracked in anything like a locator or microphone. You'd be surprised how easy it is to hide things like that these days".

He nodded his understanding as the man professionally ran his device up and over the two of them, one eye always on the screen until finally, apparently satisfied, he nodded and shut it off, gesturing them into the house. Kaji led him inside what looked like a rather normal Japanese house, sparsely furnished but clean and tidy, _probably_ two stories, but he couldn't tell for sure before Kaji stopped in front of a door, a real, solid looking wooden door rather then a sliding screen, a voice inside at once calling for them to enter.

The room was larger then he had thought it would be, probably twice the size of his bedroom. There were no windows inside it, clearly the room was at the center of the house where it would be difficult to eavesdrop, a sensible enough precaution when he thought about it. Shinji was growingly impressed by the level of paranoia shown by Kaji's employers, for the first time he felt paradoxically safe as he realized the odds of SEELE or his Father catching onto this meeting were low.

Waiting for him in the center of the room was a heavy and expensive looking wooden table with one chair on his side and two on the other, a video camera on a tripod sitting behind the two chairs and what he guessed was a microphone sitting in the middle of the table. Sitting in one of the twin chairs facing the door was a man dressed relatively casually without a suit or tie, who looked up as they entered and nodded, gesturing Shinji to the chair opposite him as he stood.

"Mister Ikari" the man said with a polite bow which Shinji returned by reflex, sitting down in his surprisingly comfortable chair. "My name is Koga Hayashi. I'm the agent who has been put in charge of your debriefing. Agent Ryoji is along primarily as a friend, but also because as our expert on NERV and SEELE, he might be able to help at certain points in this by offering his own insights. We are taping this interview as you can no doubt see, I take it you have no objections?"

"None at all" Shinji shook his head, hearing the professional at work with the calm, controlled voice and again feeling a little better about the seriousness this was being taken with. Secretly, he had had a horrible feeling today that he _wasn't_ going to be taken seriously, getting a 'well we thank you for your story Mister Ikari, don't call us, we'll call you' response, but increasingly he was starting to think that he _had _managed to get the attention of some very powerful people…and he knew who had been responsible for getting him this far, giving Kaji a slight smile which he returned briefly.

"Excellent. We have limited time, as I'm sure you can understand" Koga continued as he sat, Kaji taking the seat on his left. "We are doing everything we can to make sure neither NERV nor SEELE find out about this meeting, but the best defense against that is to make sure this moves as fast as possible".

"I appreciate that" Shinji nodded.

"Good" Koga replied, leaning back slightly in his chair and glancing down at his papers and the pad he had ready to jot his own notes down. Sure everything was being tapped by four different microphones, three cameras and Shinji's vital signs were being monitored by carefully hidden sensors in his chair that served as a lie detector of phenomenal accuracy…

But Koga trusted his own observations and notes above all else. And so did his boss.

"Well, shall we begin then? First, Mister Ikari, can you formally state your name for the record, along with your current position at NERV?"

Shinji did so, knowing_they_ knew all of this, but guessing there was some legal requirement for it. Kaji and Koga also announced their presence for the record, though only their names and not their positions.

"Well. I have been fully briefed on everything you've told Agent Ryoji on _Over the Rainbow_, but perhaps you would like to start from the beginning again?"

"If there is such a thing" Shinji shrugged

Koga let the side of his mouth twist upward in slight grin at that, understanding how concepts of time and space might have become slightly…twisted in Shinji Ikari's mind after what he had been through.

"You have somewhere else you would like to start from?"

"Second Impact" Shinji said. "And what I know about history from that point on."

_So, he also has significant knowledge of the Second Impact _Koga thought as he scribbled some notes down. Unsurprising given how closely related that catastrophe had been to everything that came since…and it was as good a place to start as any to start, clearly Shinji had been giving this some thought, which was a good sign.

"Whatever pleases you Shinji; go right ahead. We're just here to listen" the Agent said, meaning every word. The trick today was to get _everything_ possible out of Shinji. They could collate it into an organized store of information later at their leisure, but _this_ meeting might be a one off chance, so he had to push forward.

Shinji took a deep breath, opening his mouth to go back in time 'sixteen' years-

Then he sneezed.

"That's a novel way of putting the Second Impact" Kaji said dryly, earning a brief chuckle from Shinji as he reached for a tissue box on the table and blew his hose carefully before continuing, closing his eyes as he cast his thoughts back.

Memories, he didn't know from whom –or what- flashed through his mind as he returned to the nearest thing to hell on Earth.

* * *

Half an hour later, he opened his eyes as a woman's voice echoed through his head, from much more recently then the ill fated Katsuragi expedition. 

"Man" he echoed it softly "found God and in his folly, tried to make Him their _toy_. For that arrogance, mankind was punished. That happened fifteen years ago. And the God that man found, was lost. But _man _continues to resurrect the God…and from that God, Adam, man attempted to make a _man _that was like a God himself. And that, was Eva".

"Interesting perspective" Koga said politely but evenly as he flipped over a new page in his notebook. Much of the facts Shinji had just given meshed up exactly with what Kaji and a few other agents had found out, at least in terms of Katsuragi's setting off of the whole thing.

But that it _hadn't_been an accident; that SEELE had –after evacuating _their_ people- set the whole thing off…_that _was new. This information would probably be enough on its _own _to have the members of the SEELE council executed for crimes against humanity, if they could get the proof…

And they hadn't even gotten started on more recent events yet!

"It was something Doctor Akagi said to me, just as she lost her mind" Shinji replied clinically, managing not to throw up as he recalled the manically crying and laughing Doctor falling to the floor in a complete breakdown, while the 'spare' clones of Rei dissolved around her into the enormous LCL tank with their own laughter…

He would get to _that_ in due time however.

"Then…" he continued, "that's about all I know about Second Impact. The Lance is still down in Antarctica and, at least the 'last time', was recovered by a naval expedition roughly the same time as the Tenth Angel attacked which was…is…about two months from now".

"And Adam was reduced to an embryonic form during all of this recovered from the middle of all that mess" Kaji muttered, frowning slightly. "_That's _a neat trick; I wonder how they managed it?"

Shinji could only shrug. He had wondered the same, but none of the disjointed bits of memories burned into his mind from the trio of Angels involved in_Third_ Impact including Adam itself, had included that fact.

"So, moving on from second impact…" Koga said with a pointed glance at the clock, "how much do you know about GEHIRN then NERV between then and the 3rd Angel appearing?"

"Bits and pieces" Shinji said slowly as he expanded his mind forward. The countless memories that had been burned into his mind from merging with the minds of those close and well known to him were far from complete and were often disjointed…but he had enough.

Fuyutsuki being given a so called 'Hobson's choice' to either work for SEELE or 'vanish', after he discovered the truth, then slowly being assimilated by the organization into a loyal scientist who soon realized his choice to work with them had left him no choices at all.

His Mother and Father working side by side with Naoko Akagi and the Professor to develop the prototype Evangelion technology…and the failures in the 'graveyard' deep in Terminal Dogma until they had gotten it right with Units Zero and One…and the sacrifice they had needed to make, to quicken the beast.

He managed, barely, to hold his composure as he retold the story of his Mothers contact experiment and precisely _where _her soul currently rested to the disbelief, then amazement of Koga, followed by his Father sending him away as a useless, broken irrelevancy.

He sketched in as much as he knew of Rei Ayanami, while stressing that the current Rei deserved nothing more or less then respect for being a unique and beautiful person who had had a life that made his and Asuka's look like a picnic, his emphatic statements getting an approving nod from Kaji and a dutiful scribbling from Koga.

Then he got to Unit Two and Asuka's Mother.

"So, Asuka's mother's soul is trapped inside Unit Two" Koga said, keeping a level, calm tone from long practiced ease, even over concepts he would have previously dismissed as absurd, such as peoples souls being swallowed by giant robots…but his instincts, honed to a fine edge told him Shinji was telling the truth.

And if it _was _the truth, then…did these people, Keel and Ikari have _any _limits at _all _in their madness?

Or their threat?

"Yes" Shinji nodded slowly as he forced away the memory that had haunted Asuka's mind for ten years of a door opening into a room with her mother and that doll…

"Asuka doesn't know, but I _felt _her presence during the battle with the Sixth Angel, at least this time around".

Kaji's expression narrowed slightly as he put two and two together-

"When your Synch ratio dropped off to zero…and Asuka's rose to one hundred percent…"

Shinji nodded, not that surprised that Kaji had figured it out.

"…I couldn't help Asuka" he admitted, fighting back tears to little use as his reaction was instantly noted by the two experienced men opposite him, confirming a growing suspicion in Kaji about his feelings towards the Second Child. "The last time, we were able to work together and get Unit Two to open its mouth, but…this time, I couldn't concentrate. Then I remembered there was someone else riding inside Unit Two with us…"

"Kyoko" Kaji nodded slowly.

"Yes" Shinji agreed. "I was able to reach her with enough of an impression of Asuka in mortal danger that she…well, reacted".

"It's strange that Zeppelin Soryu was not physically absorbed as yourMother was" Koga frowned.

"As far as I understand it, she didn't reach that same level, I don't know why. And unlike my Mother who was absorbed whole, _her_ soul was…well, shattered. Only a fragment, the part that recognized Asuka as her daughter was absorbed, while the rest-"

"Which is why she thought that _doll_ was _Asuka_" Kaji said with a snap of his fingers, finally getting an answer to _that _question after all these years, the mental breakdown that had defied the best medical experts in the world who simply couldn't understand the nature of her insanity…

Shinji nodded.

"As far as I understand, the piece of her Soul in Unit Two acted as an anchor for the rest, drawing it back together after she 'died', but Asuka had closed off so much of herself by that point that she never felt her presence…until the end".

Kaji looked up at _that_ominous statement, but held off his questions guessing he would get an answer soon enough.

"Naoko Akagi, Doctor Akagi's mothers soul somehow got trapped in Unit Zero" Shinji continued. "I don't know _how_ but it must have happened sometime around the point my Father goaded her into killing herself".

"I always wondered about that" Kaji muttered. "The timing, just after she completed her major projects and the day before NERV was formed…it was just too…odd. Still, it makes a degree of sense given that in Unit Zeros first activation, its first considered act was to try and kill your Father".

"Mores the pity it didn't succeed" Shinji muttered. "But, that's about as much as I know about what happened before I arrived in Tokyo-3".

"Well in that case, this is as good a time as any to take a five minute break, I think we need it" Koga said in a tone that didn't invite refusal, pressing a hidden button under the desk. Five seconds later the door opened and a pair of female JDA agents walked in with trays of light snacks and gave Shinji supportive smiles as they set the food down. Koga didn't partake, instead going over his pages of notes to scrawl a series of questions and mark possible allusions to future events Shinji would need to clarify, pleased however to see Ikari had laid everything out so precisely and carefully.

_He's probably had plenty of time to think about what we might want to know_ Koga thought to himself, waiting for Shinji to have several light snacks before finally looking up.

"So…are you ready to continue?"

"Yes".

"Well. At your own pace, why don't you take us through each of the Angels attacks? It'll serve as a basis for the timeline; feel free to add other major events that happen as we move along".

"Fair enough" Shinji said softly, knowing this couldn't be put off any more. Taking a deep breath, he thought back to that nightmarish day when he first arrived at Tokyo-3.

First though, he sneezed a second time, much louder then before, frowning in annoyance as he grabbed a handful of tissues.

"There must be some kind of dust in here or something" Koga muttered, looking around at the room for any possible source, before he shrugged, glancing at the time. The clock was definitely running now.

And so Shinji told them the story that had defined his life, at first moving along quickly as he filled them in on the 'past' last time, leaving it up to them to consider the differences as he thought over the events of his first life.

Father

Sachiel.

Misato.

Shamshel.

Rei.

Ramiel.

Asuka.

Gaghiel.

Israfel

Then finally, he reached the 'future' and both Kaji and Koga leaned forward, their expressions intent.

Sandalphon. Lurking in its volcano as it lured Asuka in and damn near killed her, only to be saved by his insane, impulsive and against orders action that had had Misato first shouting at him, then hugging him and even earning him a rare, _real_ smile from _Asuka, _not the Second Child, for saving her life…even as she muttered about him being an idiot for showing off as he dragged her out of the magma.

Matariel. An agreeably easy Angel to kill…if not for the chaos of a convenient power outage that his Father had been convinced was the work of a _human_ enemy…

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Shinji asked with a raised eyebrow

Koga simply smiled, twirling his pen expertly in thought.

"If the JDA did perform -and was now planning- such an operation, neither of us would have a need to know" he shrugged before shooting a wry smile at Kaji. "Though I wouldn't be that surprised if our friend here had something to do with it, given how many people he works for, as I wouldn't put it past SEELE doing some snooping on Ikari either".

"Well I think we can rule himout" Shinji smiled, turning his gaze on Kaji. "You got to spend five hours trapped in an elevator with Misato, who desperately needed to go to the bathroom".

Kaji's face paled slightly at _that _thought, drawing a rare smirk from Koga before he got himself back under control and inclined his head at Shinji.

"Please Mister Ikari, continue".

And so he did.

Sahaquiel. The first Angel to appear in Earth Orbit, which was an interesting change from the Pacific Ocean, but a terrifying sight to watch as the Angel crashed to Earth wreathed with plasma from the friction of its reentry, its AT field, raised like a gigantic sledge hammer against Tokyo-3 until it was halted by the efforts of the Three Children…

And his Father down in Antarctica recovering the Lance, for the first –and only- time directing words of praise at his son, which in the end were as hollow as his heart, just another method of control to exert over him that_meant_ utterly nothing.

Ireul. Harder to explain given that he had heard about its attack from second hand accounts after his Father had, for whatever reason, systematically deleted every record concerning its attack. He hadheard from Misato that the Commander had told the Committee it was a false alarm, though the fact that NERV then referred to the next Angel as the _twelfth _and not the _eleventh _was a clear indicator this hadn't worked.

Kaji expressed great interest in the first real indicator of a crack between Gendo and Keel, but Shinji had nothing more to offer them on it, so Koga urged him to keep going.

Leliel.

An even odds contender for 'weirdest' Angel, it took depressingly little effort to put himself back into that entry plug as hour after hour after hour passed, the LCL slowly lost its oxygen and he fell into something like a dream.

But the ghostly, white phantom that had entered his entry plug to ever so gently cradle his head in her arms as he lay there dying, before turning loose the power of Unit One in a rage…

She, _she_ had been real and he spoke with a hint of pride at how his Mother, although he hadn't understood it at the time, had never left him and refused to let him die.

The 'disappearance' of the Second Branch in Nevada he knew little about, but the suspicious looks his 'hosts' exchanged at the news suggested they were looking far deeper into it then he ever had. He had never really though about it, he had been far more concerned with the soon following news that the US Government had shipped Unit Three to NERV Central, apparently wanting it the hell off their soil.

Leading to Bardiel.

And the 4th Child.

* * *

Kaji watched with a detached feeling as Shinji, in a flat, and chillingly almost emotionlessvoice, recited the events that had started his downward spiral. 

The Dummy Plug activating and his Father refusing to stop it.

Even after Unit Three was torn apart piece by piece.

Even after the Angels waveform had vanished.

Even after Unit One picked Unit Three's Entry Plug…and despite a glimpse of hope when Shinji had felt his Evangelion hesitate as if confused, as he_ threw _his will against it, it crushed the plug and damn near killed his best friend, instead 'mercifully' just leaving him minus an arm and a leg.

Now, he had put a second Suzuhara into hospital.

Shinji freely talked about how he had come within milliseconds of tearing NERV Central to pieces in retaliation, before admitted an almost grudging thanks that his Father had stopped him before he compounded Gendos actions by killing _more _innocents. After which his Father had been all to happy to let him leave and never see him again, letting him go much as one would throw out the spare part of a machine that had lost its use, designating Rei as the Pilot for Unit One.

And Shinji talked of his utterly certainty that this was the _right_ _thing_ to do. No terror or anguish as he ran away, just a strangely calm feeling that this time, he wouldn't be coming back, that this time he knew he was doing the rightthingand saving anyone else from getting injured or killed because of _him_.

Then the Angel of Might had taken the field.

"I was standing on the train platform when the sirens kicked in. How the Angel had gotten so close without being detected, I don't know. But before I could get to a shelter, I saw it. It flew up slowly as it passed over the Mountains, then the cities defenses all let loose, all at once. All the missile launchers, all the buildings _all_ of it just opened up. I thought I would go _deaf_ from the noise…but that was nothing to the explosion when it returned fire". Shinji shook his head, still in a slight disbelief at the memory.

"It took the Third Angel took a lucky shot to penetrate the Geofront armor, right down an unarmored building. The Fifth took ten hours to drill through it. The Fourteenth…it blew through _eighteen_ of the twenty two layers in _one shot_. Then, as I was dragged into a shelter down in the Geofront, I saw it blast six city blocks with still active weapons _simultaneously_, just to shut them up before it got back to work and you _know _what I did about it?"

There was silence as both Koga and Kaji recognized the rhetorical question.

"_Nothing!"_Shinji said with an emphatic disgust at himself, his emotions returning suddenly and forcefully. Kaji stirred slightly as if to offer a defense, but stopped at a look at Shinj's face.

_He needs to get this out, even if he's being far too hard on himself…_

"Oh no, I was too tied up in my self pity and vendetta against my Father! About the same time I found a corner of a shelter to hide in; the Angel blasted a hole in the Geofront and started to descend. Asuka, in the only fully operational Eva met it with everything she had, neutralizing its AT field and emptying two rifles into it. Then two more. Then two_rocket launchers_…and she didn't even _scratch _the thing. It hovered there on the ground _very_ politely, letting her do her do her best, then it sliced her arms from her Eva. Then, in God only knows how much pain she charged it in a rage and it sliced her head clean off".

"Did…was she-" Kaji started to ask feeling a sudden ball of ice in his stomach forming before Shinji shook his head.

"No, Misato and Maya were fast enough on the ball to cut her A-10 links before Unit Two was decapitated. That head, ironically, crashed right into the shelter I was staying in, glaring at me from not five meters away. I mean here was a sign from the God's if there was one, Unit Two looking at me as if to say 'well get off your damn ass and help!', but no, I just stumbled outside, telling myself that I had promised never to go back".

Shinji remained silent for ten seconds and no-one pushed him until he finally looked up at Kaji.

"Then I ran into you. Your 'second job' was now 'public' knowledge, though I don't think anyone really had a clue _who _you worked for, but you were off the combat roster and…well…just watering those plants. You told me that this was the place you wanted to be if you died, then explained the whole deal with Adam and the Angels and what would happen if they combined. And still, I just stood there! Humanity itself was on the line but _no _I couldn't act. Instead, I watched as Rei was deployed in a half crippled Unit Zero, Mother rejecting both her _and _the Dummy Plug, refusing to activate for _him_…Rei only had one arm but, as she thought she was entirely expandable, she used it to pick up an N2 warhead and charge at Zeruels back".

Silence greeted that statement, broken only by the slight hum of the electronics in the room until Shinji exhaled his tension again and continued in a soft voice, his eyes now fixed on a spot on the table as he thought over Rei's literally suicidal charge.

"At the last second, the Angel spun around and threw up an AT field, but Rei managed to break through and detonate. The blast was contained somehow so I wasn't given a dose of instant sunrise, but the Angel protected its core, somehow, then hacked Unit Zero damn near in half, before getting back to work blasting its way into Headquarters.

Now Shinji again met Kaji's gaze.

"Then, you told me that I had a choice" he said in a level tone.

* * *

("Shinji, the only thing I can do is stand here and water. But you, _you_ have something that you _can_ do. That _only_ you can do. Nobody is forcing you. Think for yourself, and make the decision by yourself. Think about what you ought to do now. So you _don't_ have any regrets later.")- 

"And I made it".

"You went back" Kaji said to him a look of real pride on his face that made Shinji feel slightly embarrassed, but at the same time unreasonably proud of his pride, snorting as he remembered how finely he had cut finding a shred of courage.

"I was almost too late. By the time I made it to the Eva bay, the Angel had blown open the main shaft and started down into Central Dogma, then crashed across into the command center. It was about a half second away from vaporizing Misato, the technicians and the Vice Commander when I jumped in and started an all out brawl through the Evangelion bays, before I managed to force it onto an Eva lift and Misato sent both of us back to the Geofront. It blew off my arm, so I ripped off its face off…and was just about to try and crush its core…when the batteries ran out.

Kaji shut his eyes and sighed and even the normally impassive Koga winced.

It would have been funny if it wasn't so bloody serious.

"The Angel" Shinji continued in a tone as calm as if he was ordering dinner, "as you might imagine was rather…irritated by now, so it took its time to tear and blast Unit One into pieces. As my entry plug started to shatter around me, I screamed and begged for it to do _something_, to _move…_and someone heard me".

"Yui Ikari" Koga said. It was a statement, not a question, but Shinji nodded.

"Unit One reactivated and my Synchronization Ratio reached over 400 percent, it absorbed me just like my Mother as it went berserk, ripping the Angel apart and_swallowing _its S2 engine, incorporating it directly into itself. Why it did that I don't know but I can tell you SEELE was utterly _furious_ with the outcome, apparently this was _slightly_at odds with their scenario." Shinji hesitated. "I don't think I can easily describe what went on while I was stuck inside Unit One…but it wasn't pleasant".

"Then we won't go into it" Koga assured him. "So, what can you tell us about SEELE's response to all this?"

Shinji looked Kaji square in the eye as he started talking.

Kaji deserved to be told the truth of how he had died.

"It utterly destroyed Misato".

The smirk Kaji had worn when Shinji told him of his 'death' vanished. That either Gendo or Keel had been irritated enough to order his death was actually quite flattering, even amusing.

That it had robbed Misato of any happiness from their newly rekindled relationship, wasn't.

_How in the hell could I have been stupid enough to let her back into my life, knowing_this_ could happen _Kaji cursed himself, but held back his emotions for the sake of Shinji as he continued.

"You left her a final message, left her everything you had found out to her about NERV and SEELE, enough to let her try and finish the fight…and from that moment…she wasn't Misato, she was just a shell with nothing but revenge to live for". Shinji stopped in thought for a few seconds as he fiddled with a half eaten snack on the table in front of him. "Of course by this time, I wasn't in much better condition".

"I see…" Kaji said, now fighting emotions he normally kept tightly under control._His _death was one thing; fucking over Misato because of it on the other hand…

Oh yes it was going to be pleasant when Ishiba took the gloves off and pointed him at Keel or Gendo…

Or happily, _both_.

"So" Koga said softly, leaning forward intently. "Kaji was killed; there was no reaction from the JDA or Japanese Government?"

"Oh yes there was" Shinji said darkly. "But that comes after the final Angel. First…Asuka got to face the Fifteenth and have her mind destroyed, then Rei the Sixteenth and have her body destroyed" he said as his face turned increasingly bleak "Then I faced the Seventeen and had my soul destroyed".

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Shinji held his head in his hands as he fought off tears, once again declining an offer, this time from _both_ of the officers, to call it a day, almost recklessly pushing on. It was as if a dam had burst and he couldn't stop, almost as if he felt he was confessing everything and desperately looking for some kind of forgiveness or even understanding from the two people opposite him. 

"I just didn't care anymore" he hissed. I just sat under the stairs and ignored everything, living, dying; none of it meant anything to me!"

"It's okay" Kaji tried to start, only to be snapped at in return.

"No, it's NOT okay!" Shinji snapped back. "People were dying all around me, innocent people against an enemy who didn't take prisoners, didn't accept surrenders from civilians trying to get out of the way, people who were looking to murder everyone I ever cared about, and I just sat there! I just…how could they be so _cruel?_"

"Here, drink this" Koga said, handing over a class of water in a tone that didn't accept refusal. Shinji took it and slowly drank, not aware that it was laced with a light sedative. Nothing major that he would really notice, but enough to calm him down from the state he had worked himself into. Koga gave it thirty seconds, before leaning forward and placing his pen on the table, to talk directly to the poor person across from him.

"Do you know how the JSSDF was formed Mister Ikari?"

"Um…" Shinji said with a frown after he wiped the tears from his face. "Wasn't it something to do with China back after Second Impact?"

"Indeed" Koga nodded. "The JSSDF was created to address a weakness with the traditional JSDF, the fact that as a _self_ _defense force_ it was designed to defend Japan from direct attacks, but lacked any real ability to forward deploy around the world. What sets the three JSSDF Divisions apart from the turn of the century JSDF is that each division has a massive logistical trail. They have enough heavy lift aircraft, ships and so on to deploy a full combat ready regiment anywhere in the world in twenty four hours, with the rest of the division following in forty eight. Now as you may or may not have learned in school, China was in deep trouble after Second Impact. In between the India – Pakistani war, Islamic insurgencies, the second Tibetan uprising and border skirmishes with a few other nations, China was looking disturbingly unstable. The Japanese Government was very worried about the possibility of a nuclear power like China devolving into a civil war, so they decided to intervene".

Watching Shinji carefully as Shinji started to calm down, Koga removed his glasses and brought out a handkerchief to polish them absently as Kaji took up the story, giving the drug time to slowly work through his system.

"Despite the historical enmity between Japan and China" Kaji continued, the Government made the decision to deploy the JSSDF to help the Chinese hold the line in the Far East, freeing up huge numbers of more poorly equipped Chinese troops to put out brushfires all over the place and reassert Beijing's authority. The Third Division was sent in…and for nine months, they fought through hell, as the nut jobs who slaughtered most of the progressive Islamic states tried to incite an uprising, then tried an invasion in the far East of the PRC.

"I don't think there has been anything similar in our history since World War Two" Koga muttered. "Those poor bastards fought in miserable conditions against an enemy who outnumbered then ten to one, defeating them by calling down shear firepower again and again as they refused to budge. So the Jhiadists switched to unconventional tactics. The one that damn near opened up a hole they could exploit was was sending children, six and seven year olds who looked like refugees, wearing suicide vests –they called them 'heavenly jackets to the kids- under their clothes, charging into their lines. The division lost the forward platoons and a huge attack followed that went damn near hand to hand until they got reorganized and pushed back. As a result, orders came down to shoot to kill any children, women or non combatants who approached their positions. So they did so".

"The thing you have to understand…no…that I think you _do _understand, Shinji" Kaji said emphatically, "is that we're only, at best, half civilized. This…thin veneer of civilization we share is the only imaginary line that keeps us from acting out our own darkest impulses. It allows our 'humanity' to resist justifying butchery."

"Where did you read that?" Shinji asked with a raised eyebrow and a smirk back in his voice. Kaji shrugged, hiding his thought that Shinjis returning humor was a good sign.

"Oh, somewhere on the internet I think. But the point is, that these troops didn't just step over that line…they shredded it. By the end of their campaign, nine months of constant, bloody, slaughter of kids, women, hand to hand more then a few times…they just didn't have anything left to restrain them. Oh they tried to paint it all back on after, but half the current Third Division are made up of veterans of that campaign…and their reputation among the rest of the JSSDF and the JSDF is not exactly…."

"Pleasant" Koga supplied, placing his glasses back on his head. "The rest of the JSSDF are the shiny, wonderful Katana the Government waves around. The Third….they're the serrated knife held behind their back, against the need for some kind of dirty work. I'm still not entirely sure how SEELE got the Government to react the way they did…though" Koga raised an eyebrow at Kaji. "If _you_ had died…and the finger had been pointed at Gendo Ikari…"

"As if I was getting too close to something" Kaji added in thought…

"And we now know Gendo _was _truly seeking to initiate a Third Impact…"

"Then me, the other pilots and everyone else who didn't have a clue at NERV just became acceptable losses to stop it" Shinji said in a rather dark, but resigned voice, the sedative clearly starting to take effect.

"It doesn't excuse their conduct Shinji, just explains it" Koga said, beforeh e blinked as he realized he had used Ikari's name without intending to. A bad sign, he was getting too close to the subject…though it was getting harder to not do so.

_How did Wallpaper screw up so badly?_ Koga wondered. _The JSSDF were deployed to stop _one _Third Impact at the behest of SEELE to allow _their_Third Impact to proceed…_

"So…the JSSDF invaded, you were rescued by Misato, Asuka was with Unit Two in the bottom of the lake, and Rei Ayanami was taken by Gendo down to the Second Angel to start Third Impact?" Koga summed up what his notes said, getting a nod from Shinji. "So…when did SEELE get involved then?"

Shinji actually smiled, expressions of fierce pride and bleak sorrow strangely warring for prominence on his face at the same time.

"When Asuka woke up".

* * *

"You would have had to have been there to see it" Shinji said softly, his eyes distant and not at all focused on the room or the two people inside it with him. The light sedative he didn't know about had had its effect, leaving him much calmer but not to the extent that he couldn't _feel_ or think properly as they reached the end of his story. Koga, amusingly despite technically working for the Japanese Government, nodded approvingly as Asuka tore the JSSDF combined arms battalion in the Geofront to pieces…then narrowed his eyes as SEELE deployed their trump card, his hand blurring as he scribbled notes. 

"On one side, Evangelion Unit Two with Asuka barely having awoken from a catatonic state, three and a half minutes of power, a single progressive knife and no support infrastructure. Opposing her, all nine advanced Production models; Evangelions Five through Thirteen, each capable of unassisted flight, each with a dummy plug that would ignore pain or damage, each with an S2 engine allowing unlimited power _and_ regeneration, each with a replica of the Lance of Longinus that could cut right through an AT field like a knife through butter…"

Kaji listened and again fought back tears as Shinji prepared to detail what Kaji knew would be Asuka's last stand. Shinji hadn't actually said as much so far, but he had given away the truth countless times; to say he was loaded down with survivor's guilt would probably be one of the greater understatements of the century. Kaji, even if he _had _been inclined to blame Shinji, for some insane reason, would have found it impossible to find fault with his actions in the JSSDF assault. After what he had been put through since coming to Tokyo-3, the minor miracle was that he hadn't eaten a gun several months beforehand. The question of _how _SEELE had tricked the JSSDF into helping them start Third Impact had been finally answered with the appearance of the Mass Production Evangelions and Shinji's revelation of their role in the whole process. It was so utterly perfect even Kaji had to give SEELE credit for their plan.

Start with the premise that the JSSDF would, of course, insist the other NERV branches send the Evangelions to help with their assault, to fight off NERV-Centrals own pair of Evangelions if Gendo deployed them. Or more likely, SEELE would instruct the other branches to _offer _the services of the nine units to 'stop that madman Ikari from ending the world' or something.

The aforementioned Evangelions of course, would ultimately be under SEELE's control the whole time, no matter what the JSSDF or any NERV branches outside SEELE's information loop might think. Like the classic Trojan Horse strategy, the Japanese Government had been once again duped and played right into SEELE's hands, employed by SEELE to _deliver_the final piece of the puzzle that was Third Impact, right into place.

Kaji couldn't help but shake his head. It wasn't really anyone's fault, though it probably wouldn't stop Ishiba from raging when he read _this_report. _How _Third Impact would be set off was, after all, a veryclosely held secret neither the JDA nor Kaji had come close to figuring out and there would be no way to know the Evangelions once inside the Geofront, wouldn't be leaving anytime soon…

It was a valuable lesson in not getting cocky despite the progress they were making with Shinji's help. SEELE and Gendo were _very _powerful _and_clever people to play the game with, at this level.

As Asuka had clearly found out.

Kaji had needed to close his eyes for a good ten seconds before he could guarantee his face would remain blank as Shinji walked both he and Koga through Misato's final actions, as Misato died a Hero with a capital H. It had been all Kaji could do to at that point to keep his own composure; how proud he was of her, he didn't think he could put into words. Koga, probably sensing this, had smoothly stepped in to continue, though Kaji could tell that while throughout the interview 'The Warlock' had faked most of his emotional responses…he was finally starting to show real feeling under his mask-

"You would have been so proud of her" Shinji said suddenly, looking up at Kaji with a level expression and this time Kaji _did _let a tear flow down his that he wiped off gently as Shinji continued with a distant look in his eyes.

"I couldn't have come close to what she did. On my best day, even _today_, with everything I know, everything I can do with Unit One…I couldn't have touched her. Asuka and her Mother fought together with such a tempest, such a focus…I don't think I can describe it. Nothing, I have ever seen, none of the battles against the Angels…nothing comes close. She didn't cry about how unfair it was, she didn't give up _anything _to them…it was as if she had been _born_for this battle. And if she had had just _known_ a little more about Units she was fighting; known to go for their S2 organs or their dummy plugs, or if she had still had her power cable and been able to take a little more time…she would have succeeded. I _know_ it".

Shinji slowly let out a shuddering breath, probably only the sedative was keeping him calm and collected right now.

"But she didn't…and Unit One then activated. It blasted into the Geofront a minute or two later…and I saw the remains of Unit Two being chewed, literally_chewed_ on by the Eva series. And guessing what had happened to her, what she had felt as she was ripped apart…I lost the last shreds of my sanity. And while I sat there screaming, the Eva series 'captured' Unit One and ascended to unite with Liltih, who in turn had already united or perhaps _re-united_ with Ayanami after she defied my Father…and that's when Third Impact started".

There was a good five seconds of silence from everyone.

"Well" Koga said, closing his notebook and replacing the lid on his pen in a visible signal that the 'debriefing' was at an end as he looked at the clock and clearly decided they had pushed as far as they could. "You have given us a great deal of data to go over, as I'm sure you can imagine…and we've spent too long here already". "If you'll excuse me, I'll go and check the shopping team status"

"Shopping team?" Shinji asked in an uncertain voice with a raised eyebrow. Koga actually grinned.

"Well, it would look slightly suspicious if you had not spent any money, nor purchased anything over four hours" the older man pointed out reasonably. "A team of agents, _very_ fashion wise agents for the record, were out helping to diminish your account".

"But…won't the records show it wasn't me? Not to mention the surveillance cameras all over the city-"

"Have already been carefully hacked to show Shinji Ikari and Ryoji Kaji browsing through the incredibly busy markets around the major shopping centers" Koga assured him as he stood, "and your bank account has been reduced by just over a hundred thousand Yen I'm afraid. Oh, and I hope you like Egyptian cotton" Koga smirked before offering a sincere bow of the greatest respect and heading for the door. "Until the next time we meet, Mister Ikari he added, exiting the door and taking his notes with him.

Shinji stood, feeling slightly jarred at the sudden ending as he realized it was all over.

"Well…should we get going?" he asked, also standing as he noticed Kaji was till sitting.

"In a minute" Kaji said without budging an inch. "First…" he pointed at Shinji's seat.

Shinji sat back down again with a slight, tired sigh wonder if he was going to be lectured.

"Shinji…I don't think anyone can ever come close to understanding what you've been through, nor the courage you've shown in being willing to go _back_ thoughthis hell for the sake of your friends…but I have one last question"

"Yes?" Shinji asked, bracing himself as he wondered what it could be…

"Do you love Asuka?" he asked in a blunt tone that brooked no falsehood.

"More then anything else in this world" he replied softly, shutting his eyes as the guilt clearly started to flow. "Well at least, as much as I love Misato like a Mother…and Rei as a Sister-"

"It's okay, I get it" Kaji nodded, squaring his shoulders as his gaze intensified. "Then if you do, you are going to have to do something that you're not going to like".

Shinji opened his eyes again and looked at him with a haunted look that suggested to Kaji that Shinji knew exactly what he was going to say.

"You're going to have to forgive yourself for not being able to save her" he said simply.

"I…I don't know if I can" he confessed in an almost tiny voice. "It was my fault…I could have done something but-"

"Oh, so her _own_ choice to stand and fight an impossible battle didn't have anything to do with her death? SEELE's decision to deploy the Evangelions against her? They are innocent of responsibility? Nor Misato for ordering her into combat in the first place?" Kaji ruthlessly asked him.

Shinji couldn't meet his gaze, but Kaji continued without care.

"Shinji, countless choices by countless people, including Asuka herself, led to her death. It is the _height_ of arrogance to assume that you _could_ change it. That kind of wishful thinking is both destructive and flawed and I _know _you are smarter then you pretend to be. So stop, close your eyes…and look back".

Kaji simply stared at him until Shinji relented with a sigh and closed his eyes, marshaling his feelings for some pointless exercise.

He knew what he had done…what he had failed to do.

"You had just spent a month trapped inside your Evangelion, right after you had watched the Dummy Plug system damn near kill Toji" Kaji started without preamble. "You then had the pleasure of watching Asuka get her mind rapped without being able to do anything about it as she fell into a catatonic state, watched Rei die without being able to do anything about it, killed Kaworu, who may have left you no choice but was still the only person to freely offer you his love and affection unconditionally…" Shinji heard Kaji's chair creak as he leaned forward…

"But you know what tells me you were in no shape to fight? Ignoring the fact that you just admitted you had sat there and damn near let those grunts blow your head away? It's the fact that _you_ didn't go berserk when you saw what they had done to Unit Two. That when Unit One _did_finally activate, instead of going on a rampage with your Evangelion and tearing _them _apart in her name and yours, the_real _Lance in your hands, you just sat there and cracked up. Hell, the only surprising thing about that is that it took this long for it to happen…but it leaves us at an impasse. At this point, you can either _run_ _away_ from the truth" Kaji saw Shinji flinched at those words "or accept it, difficult as it might be".

"And what is that?" Shinji asked, opening his eyes and not even bothering to hide the haunted feelings of guilt that were flooding through his eyes.

"That she was dead the second SEELE decided to attack NERV" Kaji said flatly. "If wishes were horses, we wouldn't be here now, I'd be still dead" Shinji flinched as _that _realization came across, "Misato would have probably killed herself in a futile stand against the JSSDF and SEELE…" Kaji paused to consider this with a shake of his head. "Of course it's also just as possible that you choosing to fight might have led to Rei simply obeying your Father and kicking off his own private Third Impact, meaning none of us would even be here".

Shinji blanched, _that_particular though had never occurred to him

"So, do you disagree with any of my conclusions?"

Shinji just shook his head, how _could _he disagree when everything was laid out so calmly?

"Good. Because you have a choice here; either you can accept that you couldn't _do_ anything, or you can ignore Asuka for the rest of your life".

Shinji blinked at the rather stark choice in confusion.

"You'll never get close to her unless you accept that" he said in a suddenly earnest and almost pleading voice. "Every time you try Shinji, you'll just hear her scream as she died and run away. And you, better then anyone must know what kind of damage you could do, if she opens her heart up and you run from her. She doesn't deserve that, and frankly, neither do you. I can't stop you if you want to be an idiot and carry around all this guilt, thumping your chest and moaning about unfair life is. Well I have news for you, it _is_unfair. It _does _suck. But you can either sit there in self pity about something that technically has not happened, or, you can actually apply some of that same courage you've shown in coming back and fighting. . If you truly love Asuka, you have to let it go. If not for your sake Shinji, then for hers, unless this time, when you _can _do something about her, you _want_ to abandon her".

Oh that was a low blow.

It was hard to let go of his guilt. Despite the battering rams of Kaji's forceful, logical arguments undermining his oh so comfortable self pity. And as much as he wanted to swim in the guilt over Asuka's 'death' -which now existed only in _his _mind - no matter how he tried to turn away from it, increasingly he had to look at it in the face.

Kaji was right.

But it didn't make it any easier.

But his final statement finally shattered the prison he had built out of his guilt. Perhaps he couldn't forgive himself for his own sake…

But he _had_ to for _hers._

Because he couldn't abandon Asuka _again_. Not when he _could _do something about it _this _time.

"Come on, we need to get you changed' Kaji said after Shinji sighed and offered him a wan smile, leading him out of the room. Koga was nowhere to be seen nor were any other agents as Kaji led him into a nearby bathroom. A pair of eye drops administered by Kaji diminished, and then amazingly eliminated both the puffiness and 'red eye' effect of Shinji's tears, followed by a quick wash of his face, then changed into an outfit layed out for him in an empty bedroom as Kaji waited outside.

"This is…different" Shinji commented to himself in the full length mirror there. Now instead of his rather plain white shirt and school pants, he was dressed in a gray turtleneck short sleeve shirt that looked, in his opinion, disturbingly close to Asuka's own high collar shirt with a light singlet under it and felt incredibly smooth on his skin. Over it he put on a light leather Suede jacket that he left unbuttoned as he pulled on stiff, but expensive looking jeans of such a dark blue, they almost looked black, with high laced desert boots…

"Trust me, you look_just_ right" Kaji assured him. "I decided to skip the sun glasses, we don't want people to think you're turning into your Father or anything" he chuckled.

"I'd still need the white gloves" Shinji joked back, suddenly feeling much more confident in himself. He didn't know if it was because he had managed to more or less forgive himself…or if the clothes just made the man…

But damn, he didn't look half bad.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded the reflection in the mirror.

The reflection, didn't answer.

Kaji however, did as he reappeared without warning.

"Someone willing to go through hell again, with no guarantee of any kind of salvation at the end because he loves the people around him" Kaji said simply and if it wasn't for the eye drops, Shinji might have damn near started crying again at that, the shear confidence in Kaji's voice directed at him was something that had been missing from his life for a _very _long time.

"Thanks" he muttered instead.

"I've got a present for you" Kaji added, extending a package in a brown paper bag of some kind towards him, the shape and weight of a picture frame.

"It's from my boss, the head of the JDA" Kaji added. "He's been briefed on your situation and he has a…bit of a sense of humor" Kaji said delicately, not entirely sure about how this would be taken, but deciding to risk it, judging that Shinji needed some cheering up after that intense debriefing. Koga was already one his way back to Tokyo-2 with his team and Shigeru would have 'first impressions' probably within three hours, a full report by tomorrow evening and a briefing to give to the PM the day after.

Funny how fast bureaucrats _could _work if the fate of the world really _was_in the balance…

"Anyway, he thought you might like this" Kaji finished, handing over the bag.

Shinji raised an eyebrow, but without further comment, reached into the bag. Inside, there was indeed a picture frame, a very nice looking wooden frame in fact. Inside…was one of those 'motivational' posters he had seen around…

His laughter started low, like Asuka's the one time he had told her about their time in the playpen as kids, but within seconds, all race of his sadness and lingering horror had vanished behind an utterly impossible to stop wall of laughter that took him at least two minutes to get over, though he had to work terrifically hard _not _to think about it because if he did, he was set off all over again…

"So. That's the easy part of today out of the way" Kaji said lightly as the car as their car pulled out of the garage, 'his' four bags of purchases safely next to him. "Now. Lets get down to the real problem, how we are going to convince a certain red headed Evangelion pilot that she needs a date for this dance…"

If there was anything more then a challenge that Ryoji Kaji loved…it was a _sneaky_challenge.

* * *

A Four Wheel Drive halted briefly on the far edge of the markets around the massive shopping center at the heart of Tokyo-3, two men easing out of the seats and vanishing inside, without any camera noticing their presence as they headed in. If anyone had been watching the cameras in the area, they might have caught a glimpse of them entering this area from another direction several hours ago and now watch them exit, the younger man dressed in much more fashionable clothes and carrying bags as they made their way back. 

But for all the glorious effort, it was a waste of time.

No-one was watching.

Countless man hours of work, computer time and hacking expertise could have been spared the effort, but the saying 'better safe then sorry' wasn't JDA Intel's unofficial motto for nothing.

The shopping center Shinji noticed was _far _more crowded then it had been in the morning as they reentered it, countless people bustling here and there, not that many young Children around, but quite a number of teenagers his age appearing to hang out near the food court.

Kaji was on his cell phone as they entered, looking around to get his bearings as he chatted with someone before thanking them and hanging up.

"Well, they're just coming out of their makeover now" he said, nodding off to the side and leading Shinji onward. "Katsuragi just took the Section Two agents through hell".

"Dress shopping?" Shinji asked in sympathy.

Kaji shook his head grimly.

"Women's toiletries"

"The poor bastards" Shinji said in a genuinely sorry voice. Not even Section 2 agents deserved to be put through _that_ kind of hell.

He recalled once when Asuka had found him 'sneaking out' to go shopping –that he hadn't informed _her_, only Misato apparently classified as 'sneaking out'- and she held him in place, while writing up a list of 'things' she needed, without so much as a 'please' or 'thank you'.

And idiotically, he had not checked the list before accepting it from her.

It took five minutes of standing at the front of a packed checkout isle while a clerk demanded a price check on ladies soaps, body washes, panties and….other items before he had been able to escape with a face as red as Asukas Evangelions paint job.

Expertly, Kaji led him through the shopping center. For some reason, Shinji felt a profound reconnection as he walked through the sea of humanity. The shear normalcy of it struck him as odd. In a city under constant attack by creatures both devastating and terrifying, parents were still being dragged by their kids into toy stores, husbands into women's clothing stores, wives into electronics stores, boyfriends into chick flicks and girlfriends into the latest shoot'em up. Kids still screamed loudly when the toy they _had _to have or they would_die _was denied and shy young guys braved rejection to ask the girl of their dreams out.

Life moved on…and something inside Shinji rejoiced in the chaos of individuals _living_their lives in the world of the AT field.

"Something wrong?" Kaji asked as they ascended an empty glass fronted elevator from the ground floor.

Shinji just looked out in joy at the energetic and damn near chaotic mass of humanity _living_in their singular, but unified way.

"No. Just something very _right_" he chuckled with a smile.

"Hold onto that thought, whatever it was" Kaji smirked right back. "We're here. It's Showtime!"

Kaji, as a matter of having finely tuned survival instincts necessary for someone in his position had excellent situational awareness as they walked along the upper level towards the beauty center in the distance. So when Shinji froze in place without warning, he quickly turned his attention back, his eyes automatically tracking across the area for any sign of a threat as his right hand drifted towards the Sig Sauer holstered under his jacket. Seeing no immediate threat, he switched tracks and locked in on Shinji's astonished and flabbergasted look, tracking along it to the ground floor and…and…

* * *

"I think Rei just broke him" Shinji commented with a raised eyebrow from his vantage point with Kaji as Rei 'strutted' –there was _no_ other word for it- away from a shop on the ground level. 

Shinji hadn't even recognized his 'sister' at first, just seeing one of his best friends following a _very _cute looking girl out of a store. Shinji had damn near run down the stairs next to the elevator to intervene for the sake of Rei and his plans to set _her_ up with him…then his jaw had dropped as he had finally recognized that it_was _Rei, trying to say something, but utterly unable

Sure he had known she_could _look great with a little work…but _damn_…

Even Kaji looked impressed.

Shinji's first unconsidered impulse had been a desire to grab something blunt -and heavy- then start attacking all the men he could see staring at his sister with expressions of unabashed lust on their faces, including a few men who looked disturbingly old to be going after someone Rei's age.

His second, unconsidered impulse was strictly biological as once again his memories darted back to that day in her apartment, his hands trapped without warning on top of her rather large, warm-

_SISTER SISITER SISTER SISTER SISTER!_

His third, more considered impulse was to grin goofily at Rei, suddenly proud of her, walking up to the stairs as she ascended the final flight towards him….

Except it wasn't Rei walking towards him…

It was Asuka.

Rei was flaunting…God yes, _REI_ was _flaunting _her body in the exact same way Asuka did, her shoulders set as she strode up the stairs, _everyone_making way as if the force of her personality was opening a path for her.

Well either that or she was manifesting an AT field, but the fact that people were not being_thrown _out of her way as opposed to _moving _out of her way suggested she wasn't 'enforcing' her personal space.

The fact however that she _could _generate a defensive field that was probably strong enough to shrug off an N2 warhead did give him _some _comfort for Rei's virtue when she was out of his sight…

The 'sex kitten' image flickered for a second however as Rei turned the final twist in the staircase and spotted him and Kaji at the top, that part of _her_inside him jolted as their gazes connected, the slightest smile coming onto her face before it returned to the same 'too cool for you' look Asuka had practiced to perfection on half the males of Tokyo-3.

Clearly, shopping wasn't the only thing Rei had taken time out to study today…

"Wow" was the only word to come to his mind as Rei halted in front of him, hovering right on the border of what one might consider personal space, again just like Asuka –who had no concept of personal space except her own- would have.

With an astonishingly almost casual flick of her head, Rei –somehow- _retracted_ her fringe, leaving her scarlet eyes open to view with the _slightest_ hint of mirth in them at his stunned expression.

"Wow" he repeated, for lack of anything better to say out loud.

_You touch her Father and I swear to any God you might believe in that Unit One will touch you right back _was the more complete thought that ran through his mind.

"You like?" Rei_cooed _at him, almost causing him to faint as she _twirled_, her skirt lifting provocatively as, with a perfect balance only a lifetime of piloting an Evangelion could give her, she rotated in place and promptly fried Shinji's mind.

_I was too late! This isn't Rei II, its Rei _III! _And Akagi spilt some of that bleach she uses on her hair in the cloning tank!_

…

_Or not._

_Okay, calm down Shinji_ he told his pounding heart –and hormone factory- as he felt his stunned status rapidly being overtaken by a bursting pride. It might be cliché to talk of Rei exiting her cocoon, but damn if the analogy didn't fit as he looked at the _mind_ _blowing_ transformation.

"I very much like" he said, letting the grin he was feeling burst onto his face. "I didn't even _recognize_ you at first. And I think you might have broken Kensuke" he added with a laugh as he tore his glance away from her down towards the gaming store, where an odd chanting about some new God being born was droning…

"It was a convenient opportunity" Rei defened her decision in a very _Rei _tone that started to calm him down…until she added "now I have a date for the major social event of this year".

_She…waked in there and asked…him…OUT? _He thought in shock.

"You walked in there and asked him out?" he then said in shock…and not a little pride.

"Yes" she said, then her voice 'went Rei' again as she frowned ever so slightly with an unsure look at him. "Should I not have?"

_God I love you Rei_he thought, silently thanking Asuka and Misato and resolving to find a way to do something nice for both of them for this.

"Oh no, its just that it's just that…well…I'm so proud of you" he admitted through a suddenly tight throat as he stepped over and hugged her tightly, ignoring the suddenly disappointed looks from four fifths of the male humans in the vicinity between the ages of thirteen and sixteen as a surprised Rei brought her arms up and gently at first, but increasingly firmly hugged him back as the connection between them suddenly exploded into a kaleidoscope of feelings that made both of them blink in unison, before they mutually and gently released each other.

Shinji felt a tingle of embarrassment at his overt display of emotion and made a note to restrain himself a little, God only knows what Section 2 would tell his Father about _that_ hug.

Kaji was probably thinking the same thing as he cleared his throat in amusement.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds" he said lightly, causing Shinji to wince and Rei's cheeks flushed –how she was able to flush on demand was another mystery he had to ask one day- "but we should go and join up with the others" Kaji suggested, inclining his head in the direction they had come from. Rei obediently started to 'strut' towards them as Shinji tried not to smile, looking at his other companions. Misato who was grinning from ear to ear, but Asuka…

Asuka's face could have been carved from granite. The look wasn't hostile, but it wasn't exactly friendly either, it was a rock solid mask that gave nothing away which was odd to say the least, but she was a complicated woman…which was probably why he cared about her as much as he did.

* * *

Kaji, on the way back to the shopping center had drilled him ruthlessly on his carefully laid plans to 'invite' Asuka to the dance as his partner, leaving Shinji stunned and even slightly scared at his ruthlessness…and finally starting to understand why Misato had viewed him as an underhanded, Machiavellian and just downright sneaky player. 

Simply stated, he WAS an underhanded, Machiavellian and just downright sneaky player.

His plan was elegant in its simplicity; manipulate Asuka until _she _invited _him _as_her _partner rather then try to break through her walls to invite _her_ as _his_. The whole process made him feel slightly uneasy, as if he was tricking Asuka. At least until Kaji had dryly pointed out that all they were doing was putting Asuka into a position where, if she even thought of him as someone trustworthy enough to escort her to the dance –which Kaji was convinced was a non starter, even if Shinji wasn't so sure- she would be able to ask _him _to go with _her_.

And if the two of them actually _enjoyed _their time together? Then what was the harm in that?

The key, Kaji had repeated again and again as they had sped towards the shopping center, wasn't to look on this dance as some kind of 'Cinderella' ball where in one night he would have Asuka fall madly in love with him, sweep her off her feet then carry her back to Misatos and well, 'take their synchronization training to a whole new level' as Kaji had unsubtly put it.

No. This wasn't an attempt to storm the walls of Asuka's heart, Kaji had explained, telling him to think of it more like a reconnaissance in force.

_And hell_, he thought with a slight smile, _who_ _else was_ _she__going_ _to_ _take_?

Assuming of course she didn't just execute him for _not_ _telling_ _her_ about the dance in the first place. But hey, that was the risk you took when you went to a dance with the red devil in the pale moonlight…

Rei, Asuka and Misato were chatting as he stepped up, the conversation petering out as the two other shopping group members turned their attention on him. Misato with an impressed look on her face and a smile that he was only peripherally aware of, as Asuka…

Kaji had told him emphatically to wait. To not exactly _ignore_ Asuka, but to let_her _make the first move.

It was much harder then he had anticipated.

She looked amazing.

It was like she had taken what she had done to her hair this morning and moved it to its ultimate conclusion. Her hair sat flush against her skull, pulled back tightly and gathered into an astonishingly intricate braid of some sort that started at the crown of her head to halfway down her neck, where it was died off with that red ribbon of hers and allowed to splay loose, looking so silky and smooth that he had to fight a sudden desire to gently run his hands down it…

Her fringe was still somewhat loose from the rest of her hair however, darkened slightly with mixed streaks of darker reds that generated an almost smoky haze in front of her sapphire eyes, an image helped by the narrowed state they were held in as she ran her eyes over his new clothes, Shinji suddenly feeling more then a little self conscious..

If she disapproved of 'his' choices…

"Well, I'm impressed" she finally responded after those few seconds felt like they would stretch into eternity. "With Kaji's fashion sense to guide you, you don't actually dress up half bad Baka".

Again the backward complement, as Kaji had predicted.

Go to phase two.

"And you…well, you'd look amazing no matter how you did your hair…but I really like it" he said with an easy smile after deliberately letting his eyes glance over her body briefly in a way he _never _would have done if he hadn't been told to, bracing for the slap.

It didn't come.

_Asuka is surprisingly self conscious _Kaji had explained as they turned onto Main Street. _She is _very_ proud of her body as I'm sure you've noticed, but she needs to know _you_ appreciate it and are properly _impressed_ by it. Sneak an occasional look when you _know_ she is watching you, but whatever you do, DON'T then just look away in embarrassment; look her _in the eye_ and complement her. No gushy platitudes please, make it come from the heart._

He tried, he really tried, but he couldn't tell if he was able to project the confidence Kaji had demanded into his voice….

"Well of _course_ you do" she responded with the slightest edge of a smile on her face that made him feel he had just scored his first direct hit, at least until she quickly hid it as she turned back to Kaji. "So, what do _you_ think Kaji?" she asked in a tone of pure 'cuteness'

Fortunately, Kaji batting for his team.

"I think you're growing up far to fast" he smiled with an abbreviated bow that mutated into a twist and step close to Misato, who blinked as he suddenly appeared in front of her and presented his best 'sloppy grin' at her, the 'gift' he had talked about 'appearing' from behind his back. "And for you, Misato-Chan" - he tried not to smile as Misato and Asuka both reacted to the intimate term - "as a token of my undying esteem. I'll see you all later" he said, looking pleased at Misato's bewildered face and shooting him a smile that said 'well, go get her!' to him, before he backed away and somehow vanished into the busy crowds as Misato, slowly, started to open her package to reveal the book, a smile suggesting she really_did _find it funny…but she would kill Kaji the next time she saw him.

Phase Three.

_Asuka is actually a very playful person _Kaji had told him as their car waited patiently at a red light._ Her insults and her fists are the equivalent of jokes and, well, light flirting. You'll get no respect from her if you run but I'm sure you've realized that. I take it 'this time' you've been giving as good as you got? Excellent. Now we just have to take that to the next level where _you 'flirt' back at her.

"They were all out of 'Parenting for Parents with Temperamental Germans'" he apologized, saying the line Kaji had suggested and he had nearly choked on, until the older man had insister he recite it again and again until he could deliver it flawlessly.

It did however, have the predicted effect as Asuka's eyes brightened slightly –_like targeting sensors- _and her fist crashed out into his arm with enough force to cause him to instinctively jump back and rub at his pinched skin, but he managed not to break eye contact, trying his best to mirror Kaji's confident smirk.

"You've made progress today Third Child" she finally said to him with an almost polite tone that didn't really do much to hide the threat under it. "Don't push it".

The 'last time' around, he was sure he would have apologized and run away.

Several times 'this time' he had pushed back against her in a mild way, though mostly when they were too busy to really get into it, such as when they had been in combat with the Sixth Angel…or when they had been in_separate _Evangelions on the way to fight the Seventh and she couldn't hit him…and where he could close the communications channel.

But this time, she was two meters away and he had her full attention…

And he threw down the gauntlet.

""Jawohl Mein Fuhrer" he replied with a grin.

Her eyes flashed in shock, at the idea that _he _would _dare _stand up for himself, then precipitously narrowed in what he could only describe as a kaleidoscope of emotions that passed too quickly for him to take note of…

Then she took an implacable step towards him as her glorious eyes settled on anger…and he suddenly had a distinct feeling that his first attempt to scale her outer walls was going to end with a torrent of boiling lead washing over him-

"Alright, cool it you two, playtime can wait" Misato said, surprisingly quick on the ball and forcing Asuka to back off…

Physically.

Her eyes didn't shift an inch from him however and he didn't look away either as he tried to think of where to go from here…

Unfortunately, experience counted for much more at this point…and Asuka was a veteran of this type of campaign.

She smiled…and Shinji fought the urge to take a step back.

"Well! Now that the Baka has rejoined us, we can finally get this day underway!" Asuka declared in an all too pleasant singsong voice, finally breaking eye contact to look over at the Section Two agents they had dragged around all day. "You four are dismissed" she commented, to his surprise, the four men not even waiting for confirmation from Misato as they jolted off the wall.

Shinji's male derived sympathy for what Misato had put them through probably slowed down his thought processes…as he didn't really take notice of the fact that _all _the bags were now at _his _feet until Misato dumped _hers _there as well…and then, it clicked.

"Hey!" was all he could say in protest as he, two point six seconds too late, realized what she had done, before looking up at Asuka and feeling his lip twitch in an involuntary admiration.

_She isn't the Red Demon _he decided as he felt the waves of ego rolling off the superior smirk she was giving him, _she's the frigen _Red Baronhe identified his fellow (Prussian) pilot, finding a strange, reluctant admiration for the way she had reacted instantly to the changing tactical situation to pull victory from the jaws of defeat.

Letting his admiring smirk show for a second, he bored into her eyes with a frank admiration for her move that promised death the next time they dueled in the skies, a look that only widened her own smirk, an almost telepathic 'bring it on, Third Child' passing from her before he glanced at Misato and Rei, as if to judge the possibly of an appeal against the move.

Misato, having dumped the bags at his feet was clearly no help…and Rei was, for whatever reason channeling Asuka again, her gaze also saying 'well hurry up', even if Shinji detected the faintest true humor in the corner of her eyes at his situation.

_Well no help there_he thought to himself in a slight depression. He had escaped sitting outside the beauty salon for a few hours…only to return just in time to have the _real _shopping started.

And damn Kaji for running!

"Well, what are you waiting for Asuka taunted?" she twisted the knife in. "Be a man and get moving!"

His 'don't push it look' utterly ignored, he wrapped himself in a cloak of great dignity and knelt, carefully and methodically gathering the bags evenly onto his arms, before standing and testing the weight, deciding that it wasn't actually that bad…for now.

"Good!" Asuka said in an all too happy tone, an unmistakable undertone of triumph in her voice as she turned back to Rei.

_Just wait Asuka…just wait… _he thought to himself as he followed them into the next gallery, feeling slightly awed, then fearful at the shear _number_of stores visiable, with the horrible feeling that Asuka planned on dragging Rei through every one of them…

Rei…

He couldn't loose track of her, as he glanced over at 'too cool for you' Rei as she talked to Asuka and he tried not to smile. Ultimately, this day was for _her _benefit. Not Asuka's…He would just grin and bear it. If Rei could find the strength somewhere to-

"WHAT?" Asuka suddenly screamed loud enough to blast through his distracted mind as he stumbled to a halt. Asuka was staring at Rei with a _very_focused look, not of anger, but of shock.

Rei, clearly taking Asuka's shouted command literally started to explain.

"Because the Summer Dance is only-"

"WHY wasn't I TOLD about this?" Asuka demanded, suddenly in a near panic as her eyes widened. "How long has this been planned? Oh my GOD I don't have anything to wear…" then she blinked and her eyes widened slightly. "I don't have a DATE!"

_Okay Providence, batter up _Shinji thought, throwing his shock –and caution- to the wind and thinking about how he could seize the opportunity as she looked around and glared at him for a second, before turning back to Rei in a hurry, something passing through her eyes that Shinji wasn't exactly sure of-

"What about you Rei?" she asked Rei, who looking oh so amazing simple smiled back at her.

"I am…taking classmate Aida to the dance".

"That Stooge?" she muttered, looking strangely…annoyed at the answer. "Oh well, I guess he's not as bad as Toji, what Hikari sees in him I have _no_ idea..." she muttered, then visibly snapped her concern back to herself, her mind working as Shinji felt sweat start to generate throughout his body, his chest feeling simultaneously hot and cold as nerves started to fire off randomly, before he with great force demanded calm as Asuka turned to her other classmate-

"What about you Third Child?"

_Oh boy _he –non visibly- sweated at _that _loaded question, taking his first step out on the tightrope, distinctly aware that the safety net had been removed, striving to present his most 'unconcerned' and not worried at all persona-

But he clearly either took to long, or Rei assumed Asuka was still talking to her.

"Classmate Tanaka offered to accompany Pilot Ikari to the dance, but he declined and let it be known that he was disinclined to participate in the Summer Dance, to a great deal of disappointment by most of the female classmates in class 3F".

If it wasn't for the fact that it would have ruined the moment, he could have kissed Rei for that as he saw Asuka blink in confusion, then narrow in thought, then focus on him with an intenisity he had rarely seen on her face outside of Evangelion combat…

"What are you, stupid?" she demanded. "Why the hell wouldn't you want to go? It's a DANCE"

_Phase Five. Defensive Anger _Kaji had instructed him as they had turned into the car park. _Don't let her push you around too much or tease you. She 'knows' you are a socially awkward 'stooge' after all, so play to that persona to some degree, but at the same time, show that you're _not_ a whimp, just stubborn. _She_ needs a date remember, and if you're right and you turned down every other girl, that just makes it even _more _impossible for_her _to _not _bring you and, well, rub it in everyone's face that Asuka got and/or forced Shinji to go with her…and they didn't. _

"Because I'm not anything like a sociable as you!" he didn't quite snap back, meeting her gaze with just the _slightest _anger in his voice. "Because…because I didn't know any of the girls who had offered to go with me at all and didn't want to go just because I was the almighty hero they thought I was, because" -and now he broke the gaze and looked past a disbelieving Asuka- "I don't know how to dance, because I've never been good in those kinds of situations._Happy_?" he added a slightly accusing tone as he slightly set his jaw.

It was a gauntlet he had thrown down in front of her, now the only question was-

"You really are an idiot" Asuka said, again with a slight smile as she shook her head, before a look that combined pity and amusement crossing her face as she crossed her arms in front of her, almost aggressively. "Well, fortunately for you, your stupidity is also your gain. I need a date, you're it".

_Phase Six. Asuka will 'ask' you, but won't offer you the illusion that she is__asking you. In fact, it'll probably sound downright suspiciously like an order _Kaji continued as they walked across the road towards one door of the gigantic shopping complex. _She won't offer you the slightest chance to reject her; _that _she fears more then anything_.

_So I say yes? _Shinji had asked.

_Kaji looked at him and laughed._

_Hell no_ he smirked. _She at least has to work a _little _for it…_

"Wh…what?" Shinji asked, suddenly starting to understand how some people could _enjoy_this game as Asuka unknowingly danced to Kaji's tune, letting shock, fear and a flash of interest pass across his face.

"It's simple" Asuka explained in an overly patient tone. "We're already learning to dance together on that damn machine Misato is forcing us to-"

"Asuka" Misato warned from behind her, clearly trying not to laugh at both of them.

"-nice machine that Misato is generously loaning us for our very important training" Asuka rolled her eyes, probably because Misato couldn't see her, in a grudging tone of voice.

_Phase Seven. If you don't immediately consent, Asuka will lay out an utterly logical rationalization for the fact that she doesn't think of you as such a bad choice to take in on her arm, anything to avoid saying 'because I sort of like you'. _

"We're learning to dance together anyway, what the hell is a couple of more dances to learn? And besides, I need a Date, I can't show up alone! And while I'm sure every boy in our class would probably drop to their face at my feet begging for a chance if I asked them, I'd rather not make an enemy of an 'ex-date' who got dumped for me and…well…you showing up with me can frankly only help your social standing significantly" she cheerfully said, in a tone that Shinji suspected door to door salesmen trying to sell vacuum cleaners fifty years ago must have used…

_Then we hit Phase Eight _Kaji sighed as they reached the shopping center door and he paused, turning back towards Shinji as he carefully unbuttoned his top collar and removed his tie, to the Third Childs amusement. _She'll not quite let down her walls completely…but she'll definitely peek out while she _dares _you to reject her generous offer and suffer the consequences_. Kaji paused with a grin. _At this point I'd probably say yes._

"So, well…I need you, it's that simple" Asuka finished in a somewhat lamer voice as she glanced away from a fraction of a second, before turning back with a look that Shinji knew full well she was far more unsure then she pretended. "Any _objections?_"

He simply shook his head, not trusting his suddenly tight throat as a thousand little Shinji's inside his head leapt from their consoles and cheered, dancing, clapping and hugging each other as he realized he had just successfully asked -or been asked out- to the school dance; Asuka Langley Soryu.

"Good!" she declared in a dismissive tone, as if she had wasted too much time on this distraction…but from the way her tensed up shoulders dropped, Shinji was thinking she hadn't quite been as unconcerned as she had let on…

Suddenly, he was glad the JDA shopping team has brought him a singlet to wear under his shirt that would absorb any sweat…because he was sure that otherwise there would be rather impressive stains under his arms….

"Well first we'll get Rei's shopping done, then _you_ can go home while I find something to wear. Damn it, so little time!" Asuka redirected her attention to the present, quickly turning to sprint into the first store, followed by Misato.

Rei however paused long enough to give him a _very _level stare that, in that strange way they could communicate without words, told him she had seen right through his entire preplanned exercise…even if she didn't quite understand why.

He gave her a sheepish little smile at being caught out, but there was no time to explain anything as Asuka yanked her into the first store.

* * *

It was only by an act of God that Shinji made it to his room five and a half hours later before his legs buckled, crashing down onto his bed with a groan as he took the time to wonder if his 'Parenting for Parents with Temperamental Germans' joke had _really _been worth Asuka's revenge. 

True, eventually Misato had taken pity on him and called over the two remaining Section Two agents to help. And true Rei had looked utterly _stunning _in some of the outfits Asuka had found her, so much so that even Asuka had looked faintly envious.

Some stores however Shinji had categorically refused to enter, hanging out the front with the Section Two agents…such as the lingerie store.

His face had burned as Asuka, Misato and utterly mind bogglingly _Rei _called out for him to come and give an opinion at different times, but he knew he was safe as long as he stayed outside and didn't look in. Not even Asuka was so adventitious as to stalk out in public in nothing but underwear.

Asuka however wasn't one to be put off quite so easily, when he found a wonderful, soft chair to collapse into in a large general clothing store, Asuka had pounced…

In _that _Bikini.

_She wore an itsy tiny peony winy red and white stripped Bikini! That she wore and caused my stroke!_

It wasn't so much the Bikini itself as much as the fact that Asuka had placed her legs on either side of his, then her hands on either side of his head, trapping him as she leaned in close and _demanded _his opinion.

His mind, rather tired from a day of reliving events he would rather have forgotten had finally signaled its surrender as he stuttered out a series of random noises, his attention squarely on her firm, tight breasts –barely- contained in a Bikini probably a size too small, less then thirty centimeters from his head as his face worked to match the shade of red on the thin fabric…

Fortunately at about that point Asuka for reasons of her own had released him, leaning away and smirking as she walked off and purchased it, apparently taking his stuttered stammering as some kind of approval.

Fortunately Misato had apparently taken pity on him at this point and declared the days shopping over, Asuka apparently in a magnanimous mood agreed and without protest from Rei who also looked happy, they had headed out, dropping Rei, who Shinji thought looked quietly happy in a way he had never seen, off -with the three point two six metric tons of shopping- before they had headed home.

Now, he found he wanted nothing more then to fall to sleep, but an uncomfortable feeling in his legs stopped him. Rolling off and throwing his new jacket in the general direction of his half dozen bags full of clothes he had never seen but were apparently the 'in' thing this season, he found his gift from the Japanese Defense Agenecy.

Sighing, he stood and exited his room, running into Misato as she exited hers in her usual 'at home' shirt and shorts, Asuka already tearing a strip of liquorish apart rather violently in the kitchen, her eyes tracking him as they got closer.

"What's that?" she demanded as she locked in on the package, a spark of interest in her eyes as he walked towards her clearly saying that she thought he might have brought her some little gift today…

_Hell no Asuka, I already carried enough for you today…_

"It's a…picture Kaji got me. If it's okay Misato, I'd like to hang it on the wall"

Misato smiled.

"Of course you can" she said warmly, "this is your house as much as mine"

_And one day, somehow, I'll find a way to tell you how much that means to me _he thought as he carefully removed the paper bag, hesitated as he wondered how this would be received, then carefully hung it up, his Fathers grim visage somehow having much less of an effect then normal on him.

Sure it was hilarious, but it was also a valuable, if subtle reminder of what his Father had been perfectly willing to do to Rei when he first arrived. He would never forgive him, nor could he ever forget.

The icy cold, logical part of his mind told him that _this _Gendo Ikari wasn't the same one who had finally been abandoned deep inside the Geofront by Rei III, his dreams and hopes undone as Rei made a choice to side with his son over him…

But some things transcended time and space…and Gendo Ikari's soul, Shinji was infinitely sure, was one of them.

Then he forced those thoughts out of his mind, shaking his head as, unable to help himself, he chuckled as he stepped back with a slightly sheepish grin on his face.

It was just too ridiculous not to laugh at if you stared at it long enough.

Misato instantly fell onto her back, barely missing Pen-Pen, who glared at his mistress before waddling off towards the kitchen as she thrashed around on the floor trying desperately to catch her breath, tears streaming down her face. Asuka, clearly interested by the noise stepped around the corner and burst out laughing, if not _quite _to the same degree as Misato, but clearly finding it highly amusing as Misato slowly regained her composure, her bursts of laughter slowly becoming less and less frequent until she managed to pull herself onto the lounge.

"Oh…my" she breathed with a huge grin on her face. "I…I can't wait until I show this to Rits" she got out, which set off another fifteen seconds of snickering before she calmed herself as she struggled to her feet.

"Well…uh…there is a new pizza place down the road that just opened up, whose up for ordering in?"

Asuka at once agreed enthusiastically and Shinji nodded as he headed for the lounge and flopped down, while Misato left to hunt for the phonebook, still occasionally snickering as he flicked the TV on, idly moving through the channels as he looked for something to watch.

_One of the often overlooked annoyances of time travel has to be that I've already_seen_ all these 'all new episodes' _he sighed, leaning back as he settled on an older movie from before the second impact about aliens invading, watching as the national monuments across the United States were blasted to pieces by huge hovering spaceships with a somewhat detached interest.

"Hey guys, their delivery time is forty minutes" Misato yelled faintly from further down the house near the front door. "I'll just drive down and get it, okay?"

"Sure" Shinji yelled back in a detached voice, echoed by Asuka's agreement from the kitchen.

_Forty minutes? Misato driving to get it shouldn't take more then forty seconds _he thought to himself with a smile as the front door opened and closed, before blinking and looking up as with a muffled 'thump' and wave of displaced air, Asuka landed on the lounge next to him, looking slightly tired herself.

"Anything on?" she asked as she brought her legs up beside her…which had the curious byproduct of shifting her somewhat onto 'his' side of the couch.

Or would have if she hadn't landed right in the middle of it when she sat down rather then the far side, meaning she was now very much pushing into his zone.

"Uh…not that much" he confessed. "You wana look?" he asked, offering the remote, which she took.

"Nah, this looks good enough" she noted as New York city was vaporized before their eyes, before slowly stretching her legs and pushed her back into his side, which instantly started to wash away Shinji's fatigue.

Even more so when she just sighed somewhat contently and with a flex of her muscles, settled into place, 'propped' up with her legs on the far armrest and her back against him, the thin shirts they were wearing doing little to hide her body warmth as her scent slowly started to intrude on his senses.

"Uh…Asuka" he said delicately.

"What?" she asked in a tone of oh such perfect innocence at her taking up 85 of the lounge area and using him as a backrest.

"…nothing" he finally decided with a smile, turning his attention back to the TV.

Asuka 'humphed' and continued to settle into place over the next minute, Shinji simply luxuriating in her presence, her head resting on his left shoulder and she watched the movie…

_And don't forget the final phase; Phase nine _Kaji had added as they walked through the doors_. At some point later that day, when it's just you and her and the moment seems right…without any fancy words…_

"Asuka?"

"Hmm?" she replied in a disinterested voice.

"…Thank you" he said, in a soft, even tone as he kept his gaze locked on the TV.

_That_ got her head doing an impressive twist to glance back and up at him.

"For what?" she asked, causing him to turn back and glance down into those glittering, if confused eyes…

"For asking me to escort you to the dance" he said in a softer voice, letting a slight smile come across his face that he had practiced for a _very_ long time, staring into shopping window reflection after shopping window reflection…

"…Oh" she finally responded, blinking and turning away.

_Oh well, _he sighed mentally as he turned back to the TV, watching as F-18's dueled with invincible alien fighters. _That's still progress I guess. _

They remained liked that for the next ten minutes, until they both heard the distinct screech and crash of Misato's car tipping up on its side and down into its parking space outside, Asuka legs kicking up then down, using the momentum to half roll and half cartwheel up to a more vertical position.

"We should set the table" she suggested.

"Right" he agreed, flicking the TV off casually as an alien fighter, too stupid to watch where it was going crashed into the side of a canyon wall. Asuka grabbed a trio of plates as Shinji fixed Pen-Pen's dinner, a relatively simple affair that got him a hurt look from the Penguin, who 'Warked' in a suspiciously sighing like manner, before heading off for his fridge-

"Shinji?" Asuka suddenly said as he turned, to see her at the junction of the 'T' formed by the living room/kitchen and hallway, clearly heading for the bathroom, her back turned towards him.

"Yeah?"

"Bitte schön" she said, before vanishing around the corner as Misato crashed through the front door with a stack of boxes.

"Woho! Lets EAT!" his guardian said as she reeled into the living room, dumping the boxes onto the table and dropping down next to it as she cracked a beer.

"Misato?"

"Ya?"

"What…does bitte schön mean?" he asked in a curious tone as she chugged her can.

Misato belched, then shrugged as she cracked her second, clearly retail therapy took its toll on her.

"Uh, 'You're Welcome' I think" she answered in a distracted voice as she hunted for her super deluxe meat Pizza, too occupied to catch the smile that passed across Shinji's face.

* * *


	14. Both of you dance like you want to win 1

First, housekeeping.

This fanfic as I sort of said in the little disclaimer at the front, was partially an experiment, partially a fun fic, so I hadn't really been doing anything like as much editing and proof reading as I should have. I've always been a little lazy at it, but reading over some of the earlier chapters again, i can't help but wince every few lines. A lot of the errors are upload filters screwing things over, but a lot are not and it rather stands out for me now that I actually looked.

So I've chained Academia Nut to a table and engaged his services as a Beta writer, so I'm hoping you'll see a noticeable improvement away from all the little errors that pop up every few lines from now on. My thanks for his valuable time, extreme patience and suggestions that, I hope, make this a more enjoyable experience.

Now, new business.

This is WAFF territory here. Be warned ye that enter here. I think I might have somewhat overcompensated for the rather...heavy tone of the last chapter of my little trilogy, so I apologize if I've gone a little far, or rushed things a little too much -I think some fellow EVA writers are a bad influence, given how far THEY have moved along the Eva timeline while I'm still not that far from Asuka arriving, even if they started after me :(

This chapter in fact got so big I decided to split it into two sections, though they are really one big chapter. I've decided to give it a day or two between chapters rather then spamming everyone with close to 50,000 words at once (bloody hell, there are complete Eva fics of a solid quality that are 50,000 words on their own!) and destroying everyones minds. The next chapter should be up in a few days, after Academia finishes fixing the horrors I can see through it.

I've had some interesting comments from 'Rei fans' wondering when I'm going to get back to focusing on her. The answer is you'll see Rei intense chapters when Rei intense chapters are appropriate. Most of the first chapters for clear reasons were VERY heavy on Rei, while recently its been more -not totally- about Asuka. Its just the way things flow back and forth. Shinji is still very much the protagonist of this fanfic, so the other characters sort of come and go when needed.

On another note, I've managed to finally watch 'Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0' shorter after finishing the last chapters. WOW, I mean WOW. There are of course a few things I don't like, a few things that made me blink, but the effort and care that was put into 'rebuilding' this, was just amazing. And the DETAIL of the CGI, I mean even just the fire control computer when Shinji is lining up on Ramiel on his HUD...awesome, just AWESOME. I'm really waiting for the Australian DVD release and crossing my fingers that we'll see the original English dub cast come back for it as well. Cause Tiffiny Grant is just amazing as Asuka, she brought that character to life for me.

While generally I post on a couple of message boards and you can find any comments I might post there, to keep people informed and after a bit of nagging from some people, I'm going to probably start to use my author profile page to post short messages -dated- if I need to write something to da fans and let them know whats going on.

And on a small note, I'm gotten no end of messages telling me that the school classroom is NOT classroom 3-F. Thats mostly because when I wrote that first chapter, I was too lazy to pull out my Evangelion DVD's and look for the right classroom number, so feel free to pretend I've really written the correct classroom, I think its 2-D or something.

Well. I think thats about it...all thats left to say is enjoy. And if you find this too WAFFy, don't worry. The chapters after the dance are over will be filled with much in the way of giant robots and giant aliens slugging it out! And of course everything going to utter hell in a handbasket at some point in the next few chapters after that. But hey, its Evangelion...

EDIT

Sorry for the double posting of this chapter, damn import filters...

* * *

**'Both of you dance, like you want to win'. Part I  
**

Asuka Langley Soryu was shopping.

All things being equal, this would generally lead to a relatively happy Second Child. She had _plenty_ of cash, she was getting an acceptably high number of interested looks from the boys in the area -which she then ignored- and she was shopping in the company of two of her friends.

But today all things were _not_ equal.

She was behind the curve.

Asuka Langley Soryu _hated _being behind _anything_. It was just under two weeks till the so called Dance and she didn't have an exact idea what she was going to _wear_.

Problem the first; she couldn't wear anything that someone _else_ was going to wear, _that_ was a cardinal sin for a women. Hence the presence of the class rep who, besides being her best friend, as a matter of course knew everything there was to know about what people were wearing across the year. In ordinary times, Asuka would have done her own 'recon', but the synchronization training with Shinji and Rei had kept her away from school for so long that she simply didn't have the time, instead relying on Hikari to keep her safe.

Problem the second then reared its head; she couldn't just wear something unique, it _had_ to be something _bold_,_daring_ and _brilliant_. From what Hikari had told her, the year was more or less evenly divided between a traditional Japanese Kimono or Kimono inspired evening gown on one hand, or a more western look for the other half. The _good _news was that by in large, almost all the girls who _had_ chosen a more western look were highly conservative Japanese girls who went for simple and rather plain designs compared to what _she_ was looking for, which meant she didn't have to push _too_ close to that thin line between 'slut' and 'superstar' to make a huge impact.

She wanted to be the center of attention for the _right_ reasons after all, not the _wrong_ reasons.

And problem the third, Rei was with them, needing her own dress.

The trio had been shopping for over two hours with only a quick drinks break to halt their momentum. Rei had surprisingly been the easiest to buy for, she had calmly walked into the second store the three had looked in, ignored everything on display and almost as if she had some kind of sixth sense to select a silvery white dress with light blue highlights that had been sitting at the back of the store. Asuka hadn't been entirely sure of the choice, but Rei had clearly fallen in love with it at first sight. Rei was a strange one for sure…but when she walked out of the change room with a surprisingly self conscious expression on her face…

She looked gorgeous. And damm her for it, _she_ would have to work twice as hard now to ensure Rei didn't steal her thunder.

The dress was strapless and hugged her figure almost like a second skin in places, loosely billowing out ever so slightly from her knees where it was slit to show off a small tease of her legs, Asuka making a mental note to double check Rei's new, but limited shoe selection to make sure she had appropriate heels to go with the outfit…

"Perfect" Asuka managed to smile, actually feeling –grudgingly- impressed with Rei and the surprisingly elegant look she was pulling off, finding that she actually felt _happy_ for the odd First Child, who had had far too little happiness in her life to this date.

Typically, it had taken _her _to set things right, not even the invincible Shinji had known about her situation, let alone done anything about it.

It had all started so oddly, with Asuka deciding that Rei should be her friend -for conveniences sake if nothing else- with a vague eye to teaming up the two female Eva pilots against Shinji at some point in the future. Rei had surprisingly agreed, although there hadn't been any more time to explore this 'friendship' before she and Shinji had been deployed against the 7th Angel.

It was probably just as well that Rei had stayed behind and avoided running afoul of her rather dark mood on the trip back, her humiliation fueling a storm of anger that Shinji had defused by quietly saying that when they worked together, they did great things. His quiet and sincere admission had shocked her, but it had succeeded in changing her mood around enough to not take it out on Rei, fortune smiling on them as Rei, in that utterly honest and clinical way, had commented that her tactics had been utterly appropriate based on the previous Angel patterns, followed by the agreement among the pilots that each of them had screwed up in battle more then once.

The expression of her feelings might have been a little crude…but the sentiment behind them was so honest it had actually struck deep into Asuka and quietly changed her initial 'freakazoid' thoughts of the First Child, a change of attitude compounded when she had later seen the conditions Rei lived in.

It had however slid slightly backwards when she had found out about the school dance from Rei, the First Child not having bothered to inform her about it in the days they had known each other. Hikari too for that matter, but she had been able to –eventually- forgive them.

Shinji she had only –just- forgiven, _he _lived with her and _he _had plenty of chances to tell her. Even _if_ he had decided not to go.

At least until she had hinted she _might_ take him and he had _jumped_ at the chance. Predictable; he turned down –preemptively- every other Girl in the year, even setting Rei up with one of the stooges, but the second she was on the scene, _bang_, he was begging at her feet to accompany…

_Ah hell…_

She couldn't lie _that _much to herself.

_She _had volunteered _him_. When you really got down to it, _she_ had asked _him _out.

In the end though, the simple fact was that he had rejected everyone _but_ her preemptively, without a thought. Then, when she had put herself in the running, _he_ had been _hers_ without hesitation. The boy no-one else could get...and damm it to hell, the only guy she knew over here she actually _trusted_ to take her to the dance.

So.

She had an acceptable partner. She had the looks. She had the well established social status…all in all, while she was slightly behind the curve she was _well _on her way to getting back in front. She was even now shopping for a dress to wear that would utterly _destroy_ every other girl in her year. She had the money to get the aforementioned dress, 'spies' to inform her on the current strategic situation across the year and she even had a date…a date?

_It's just a convenient term, nothing more or less _she thought asthe 'D' word again flashed across her mind, walking into the 12th store of the day. This chain according to Hikari was a European importer, which actually gave her some hope; she had not exactly been impressed by the local offerings.

Well with the exception of the dress Rei had snatched before _she _could, damm her.

Hikari however, was starting to look a little tired and Asuka mentally decided that if they couldn't find anything in this store, she would call it a day and come back alone. Honestly, Japanese fashion this season was nothing but the same damm boring cut in different colors again and again and-

Hold that thought.

She slowly walked to a display at the rear of the store, where a lower light level created a much more…sensual mood; approaching a mannequin dressed in a shimmering scarlet evening dress of the exact same tone as her Unit Two that caught her attention like an AT field drew Angels, to the slight alarm of the ultra conservative Class Rep behind her.

"Uh…Asuka…isn't that a little…adult?" Hikari asked as she followed her deeper into the store, suddenly looking like she was carefully picking her way through a minefield from the hesitant way she walked…

"No, it's a _lot _adult" she replied without taking her gaze off the dress as she slowly walked around the mannequin, her eyes missing nothing as her hopes steadily rose.

"Can I help you?" a polite sales assistant asked, moving up towards them and clearly noting the boxes Rei was carrying from a competitor, correctly guessing it meant these girls were actually shopping today and not just looking.

"This dress" Asuka said slowly, still not taking her eyes of it. "Does it come in any other sizes?"

"It comes in all sizes" he assured her. "It just hit the store yesterday; technically it's not in this month's catalogue, it was _supposed _to be a release for _next_ month in fact, three weeks from now."

Asuka smiled…and Hikari and Rei _both_ shivered slightly at the sight.

* * *

Step-twirl, step, step, pause, pivot step and down, left foot, right foot, jump and- 

"Yes!" Asuka cried, punching her fist in the air as the final sequence was performed flawlessly, a 100 readout blinking next to the dance mat as Shinji took a deep breath and pulled his headphones off, walking behind her to stretch his muscles slightly.

"Well I'm impressed" Misato said from the table across from them, as Toji, Kensuke, Hikari and even Pen-Pen broke into applause. They had finally done it, both able to anticipate the others moves to the music so perfectly that they could improvise, perfectly 'harmonious' moves while keeping in time with the music and each other, without needing the have the pads illuminated.

Asuka still thought the whole thing was a waste of time compared to the _real _combat training. But it didn't stop her from striving to be the _best_ of course. And now, she had done it.

"As well you should be Misato" Asuka smirked as she ripped off her own headset with a flourish. "It's not easy synchronizing to a slower, less efficient pilot like the Baka here" she pointed out, placing her hands on her hips and raising her chin, proudly, looking down at an amused Misato, before calmly lecturing her in the most superior tone she had.

"Of course as Shinji has proven, with enough training and encouragement even the most inept pilot can be trained to follow my superior example, irrespective of their complete lack of hand/eye coordination. But with my example to follow, we did it in only a fraction of the…"

Asuka let her voice trail off as she belatedly realized that the two stooges were desperately trying not to laugh at her, Hikari was looking both shocked and amused at the same time and Misato was going red from the effort expanded to hold back her own explosion of laughter with her hands in front her mouth.

_What on Earth _she wondered…then a glimpse of motion caught her eye behind her audience, in the reflective surface of a glass cabinet

Shinji was standing directly behind her.

She had a sudden suspicion and decided to test a theory, brushing her hair back, as she kept talking about her superior skills, the motion duplicated in an exaggerated fashion by Shinji as he mimed her movements and talk.

She stopped and smiled.

"Shinji?"

Her 'audience' dropped their laughter in an instant.

"Uh…yes Asuka?"

"I can see you in the reflection of the glass behind them, you know".

There was a moment of silence. A terrible pause in the universe itself as the meaning of the statement permeated everyone's brains.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to day to say farewell to our good friend, Shinji Ikari," Toji muttered as Asuka slowly turned around to face an at-first sheepish, then rather nervous looking Shinji.

With her back turned to everyone else in the house, Asuka actually favored him with a rare _real_ smile. It _was _a funny joke after all; she might well have done the same if he was getting too full of himself.

Not that it meant he didn't get retribution for it of course.

"I hear you and the stooges have said that playing with me is like playing with fire, Ikari" Asuka said to him as she closed, in a terrifyingly level and polite voice that would have had Shinji running…if not for the fact that he was trapped against the living room wall, with the only exit _behind_ Asuka.

He also knew that protesting would do little good…but as he had little to loose _anyway_…

"_I_ never said that," he retorted in a smooth, steady voice.

Well he _tried _to retort in a smooth steady voice. It came out as more of squeaking nervous tone. But to his credit, he _did _manage to resist the urge to step away from her as she closed.

Asuka just broadened her smile at his defiance.

"Really? Then perhaps you _should _listen to them more often," she suggested as she stopped bare centimeters away, Shinji trying not to shake at the presence she projected like a blazing bonfire…or focus too much on the way the way the sweat glistened on her skin, across the top of her breasts, visible in the low cut tank top she was wearing. A situation made worse as her chest heaved, Asuka still clearly recovering from her physical exertion on the dance mat...

He realized he had probably focusing a little too much on her perfect body and not where her limbs were about the time he felt her foot hook under his, then sweep forward, sending him sprawling with a yelp to the dance floor on his face as Asuka pounced, her body straddling snug against his in a way that he wouldn't dare to _dream_ about-

"Feel the burn" she whispered in his ear…then his head exploded in fire as she proceeded to noogie him with an expert, aggressive, technique that Shinji had never had turned against him until this moment.

"AHHH! I didn't mean it!" he screamed in protest, Asuka just laughing at his efforts to break free, having expertly locked him in place with an iron grip, her body flush on top of his, trapping him in a curious world of pleasure and pain as his head fried and her ample chest pressed into him…

Pleasure with pain.

_That_ was the truth of living with Asuka Langley Soryu.

_Man, she must have a lot of rage left over from after I beat up on her in the simulator today _he thought, stretching the truth only _slightly _in his mind as it burned.

"Mean what?" she asked in an all too innocent and casual tone in reply to his screams, trying to ignore the treacherous excitement she felt as she struggled to hold Shinji down, the taller Third actually putting up rather impressive resistance even as he begged for mercy…

_I am _NOT _enjoying this in _THAT_ way dammit! _Asuka shouted mentally to clear her mind, hanging on as Shinji started to _really _try to throw her off.

"Shouldn't we be trying to break them up?" Kensuke asked in confusion as utterly no-one moved to help the Third Child, who was half screaming for mercy, half promising death to all redheads in the room, not three meters away.

"Nah, they'll work it out of their systems pretty quickly" Misato shrugged, looking down in annoyance at her empty can of apple juice and starting hunting for another as Asuka whopped, thumping Shinji's head into the floor. "Shinji's fine".

"Yeah, I don't get it" Toji said, in a voice loud enough to reach across the room. "Is she trying to kill him, or make out with him? I can't tell," he asked Hikari in a confused tone, causing his de-facto Girlfriend to giggle in a way she _never_ would have a month ago, Misato also chuckling as Kensuke tried not to grin.

Asuka, several meters away froze at the statement, mostly because she had quietly started to ask herself the same question, as she realized she was actually finding this activity quite enjoyable, in a way quite different from simply beating up on the Third Child should make her feel.

Unable to _answer_ the question however, she did the next best thing and released her right arm from its noogie duties long enough to scoop up Shinji's abandoned headphones and send them flying at Toji who, anticipating such a move, neatly batted them aside. Her two second move however was more then enough of a window for Shinji, who used his suddenly free arm to push off the floor, shift his legs around hers and in a tumble of motion; suddenly it was _Asuka_ who was pinned under _him_ with a surprised yelp, her wrists held above her head, his legs across hers, the front of his body pressing into the front of_ hers_…

Time froze.

Shinji swallowed as he saw her deep sapphire eyes focus in on him, in surprise at the sudden reversal…

Their noses only millimeters apart…

Their panting breath on each others faces…

His mouth so close to hers he unconsciously flashed back to that 'almost' kiss, on this very floor, so long ago-

Asuka felt the wind slightly knocked out of her as she crashed onto her back, cursing her impulsive attack at Toji and the opening he had no doubt planed on it creating for Shinji, while at the same time strangely pleased that Shinji hadn't hesitated to use it.

_He must have a lot of rage left over after I kicked his ass in the simulations today _she thought, only _slightly_ distorting the truth.

Still, it was quite the reversal to find herself suddenly on her back, her arms pinned above her and his weight crushing into her…his nose only millimeters from hers, his _mouth _only _centimeters_ away…as she realized that Shinji could, right now, do anything he wanted to her and in her current state, she _couldn't__ stop__ him_!

No-one had _ever _had her in such a position.

All he would have to do would be to lean down ever so slightly…

_Could he…would_ _he…_will_ he?_

_No. He won't…the Baka would _NEVER _dare_ –and she ignored the disappointed sigh she felt in the back of her mind at that conclusion- _but_ just_ in case-_

Asuka's wrists twisted impossibly up-and-over his and broke his grip effortlessly, allowing her hands to fly up and strike his shoulders with surprising strength, sending him flying backwards off her. Then in an utterly confusing blur of limbs and body, Shinji found himself_ again_ face down on the cheap plastic of the dance matt, _this_ time with his right arm held behind his back at an angle a humans shoulders had not quite evolved to naturally be held at.

Damm.

He _really_ should have risked kissing her, then running like hell for the door. Sure she might have hurt him _greatly_, but as it appeared she was about to do that anyway…

"Would you like to try that again, Baka?" she whispered in his left ear, her hair dangling down past his face and veiling them off from the world, trapped with Asuka and no-one else…

He could think of worse ways to die.

"Yes," he gasped out honestly; suddenly morbidly curious about what her reaction would be…

There was a moment of stunned silence as she actually stopped breathing, providing just enough time for Shinji to brace for the pain that was no doubt about to be delivered as her grip tightened-

"Alright, you can let him go Asuka, I think you've made your point," Misato's voice came from somewhere behind him, calling an end to the nights entertainment.

Shinji felt his housemate hesitate, but finally relax her grip as she returned his shoulder joint to a more normal configuration. Then to his surprise, she leaned in even closer to his ear and whispered a rather ambiguous "Too bad," before she got to her feet, leaving Shinji lying rather pathetically on the floor as she happily strutted back to the table, ignoring the slightly reproachful look from her guardian as Misato walked over to help the Third Child up.

As a women 'of the world' so to speak, Misato_ had_ noticed the hesitation and, dare she say it, even _anticipation_ in both of her charges for the few seconds they had been literally face to face on the floor.

Annoyingly, she realized she had not really thought through the logical conclusion of having two unrelated teenagers –both going through puberty- living under the same roof when she had impulsively taken Shinji, then Asuka in. And she was not so blind as to miss the sexual tension that had been building with the two 'eating, breathing and sleeping' together in their training.

She would have to give them 'The Talk' sooner then anticipated. Assuming they didn't kill each other in the meantime of course.

"Shinji, you have nerves of steel," she smiled as she reached the slowly recovering Third Child and helped him back to his feet, "but your joints are made of cartilage. Remember that please; I'd rather not have Asuka beating up on you becoming habit forming…not that she wasn't _slightly_ out of line there" Misato's voice became somewhat more serious, even if she was still striving for a light tone as Shinji made his way back to the table and crashed into a seat as far away from her as possible.

"Oh Misato, _that_ was just a game" Asuka smirked at Shinji. "No blood, no report and all that" she tried to dismiss everything with an airy, dismissive tone that hid the very real feelings of apprehension she was starting to feel at Misato's not exactly _pleased _look, realizing she might have taken things a _tad _too far, for Shinji just lightly teasing her…

"If that's her idea of fun play, I'm starting to understand why the Third Branch was so glad to get rid of her," Kensuke put in, in a sotto voice.

"Oh that's nothing" Shinji smirked slightly, saluting Asuka with his can of apple juice before she could cut back with a snappy retort. "Remind me to tell you the story of both of us in the playpen at two years old some day; _this_ is just old school stuff for us".

Asuka's blinked, then her brittle smirk softened, becoming much more genuine as she recognized that Shinji was subtly making the equivalent of a 'no hard feelings' gesture at her rather…aggressive response to his teasing, in a way Misato in her rather disapproving mood could pick up on.

But the electronic chime of the apartment's doorbell, causing everyone to blink, and then turn to stare at Misato in confusion, threw off any further thoughts on the subject. Everyone who should be here _was _here after all…

"Oh, that must be Rei," Misato said, fiddling with her juice can's ring-pull. "I asked her to pop over for a while. Asuka, be a dear and get the door?"

"Oh fine" Asuka sighed, getting back to her feet and heading for the door. As soon as she was out of sight, Misato turned back to Shinji.

"_Are_ you okay Shinji?" she asked, now with some real concern in her face. "She was a little out of line there".

"I'm fine, Misato-san, really" Shinji smiled at her concern, as he recalled Kaji's advice; that this whole deal was the Asuka equivalent of a playful slap on the back of the head, or blowing a raspberry in his direction. Asuka played rough, but it _was_ still play…after a fashion.

If she had _really _wanted to hurt him, he would probably be coughing up blood and screaming for morphine about now. But that hesitation, the surprise and…_what_, he had felt from her, when he had managed to get on top of her…

So much of her was still such a mystery to him, despite everything…

"Oh Hikari, do you want another drink?" Toji fumbled his way into the conversation, as he noticed her drink was empty.

Hikari blinked as she noticed the same, and then glanced at Pen-Pen, who offered her an unapologetic 'Wark!' then clambered out of her lap leaving a suspiciously empty can of apple juice behind as he headed for his fridge.

"Yes, thank you Toji," she smiled back at her de-facto boyfriend, who almost unconsciously returned her smile, while Kensuke made a choking face across the table that Misato managed not to snicker at.

It was almost crazy how much time Toji and Hikari were starting to spend with each other now. Kensuke's faces were mostly an honest expression of his frustration with the whole situation. As Shinji had been told by his friend in more then one rant over the phone, Kensuke had become little more then a bulwark during lunch hours for the 'far too happy couple' to avoid the scandal of sitting alone while Shinji, Rei and Asuka were away on NERV business, meaning he was dragged along as they chatted and laughed, but more or less ignored the whole time.

His friend was almost at his wits end, but apparently had taken heart from the fact that the three pilots would be back at school tomorrow, Shinji's Father apparently satisfied enough with their progress to let them get back to their 'normal' lives with just 'after school' sessions scheduled now.

"Hey, Rei's here!" Asuka cheerfully broke into his thoughts with a high decibel level announcement that was completely unnecessary, as the Second Child led the First into the room.

"Hello," Rei confirmed her presence, albeit in a softer and less explosive voice, an increasingly common –if still very slight- smile on her face as she looked across everyone present, as always her deep eyes lingering on him, that strange, almost telepathic connection he shared with her pulsing for a second as they stared at each other, before her gaze traced across to Kensuke, as Toji returned.

"Hello Kensuke," she said, with a slightly broader smile, Rei looking graceful and gorgeous in a fashionable light blue dress that hung loosely to halfway down her shins, her hair as always now a work of art that reduced Kensuke to mostly single syllable words.

"Hi Rei," was his first effort as he smiled hopelessly back at Rei, as she moved to sit next to him, his attention locked on the flawless Ayanami who returned his smile gently…as Toji, off to the side made a gagging gesture identical to that Kensuke had made at him, that caused Asuka to actually smirk in approval for once at him, both the Second and 'Forth' sitting on either side of the class Rep.

"Well, now that we're all here, I have some news," Misato called to 'meeting' to order, her 'Captains' voice suddenly coming to the foreground. "First, I've talked to all of your parents," Misato started, getting a surprised look from the visitors. "They've agreed that the logistics of getting everyone to the dance will be simplified greatly if everyone meets up here, gets picked up and driven to the dance, then returned here afterwards, getting picked up again."

"There is _no__ way_ the _three _of us can get ready with all of _these_ guys hanging around" Asuka lodged her protest at once.

"Which is why _you _three girls will get ready across at Rei's" Misato calmly replied. "The boys will head over here and get ready, and then we'll get together and head to the Dance."

"We can't all _fit_ in your car," Asuka pointed out the _next_ problem on her list.

"Which is _why_ we're taking a Limo" Misato grinned, getting a surprised series of gasps and smiles from the children around her.

Even Rei smiled slightly at the news and if _that_ wasn't a major accomplishment, then someone was setting their standards _way_ too high.

"Now because this dance has _all_ three pilots attending, Commander Ikari has stipulated certain conditions and precautions" Misato continued. "There will be a Section Two detail at the venue and you'll have to leave by ten, the Commander doesn't want you all sleep deprived if an Angel attacks the next morning."

"Let's just hope one doesn't attack in the middle of the dance" Asuka sniffed under her breath, her eyes suddenly becoming dangerous at the thought. "If it does, it's _so_ going to pay for it."

Shinji's mind at once flashed to the image of Asuka, alone in the street, fighting with her bare hands against Zeruel, Bardiel and Armisael simultaneously; in a rage at them for _daring_ to interrupt _her_ dance…  
And winning.

"Oh, in _that_ case," Misato expanded on Asuka's promise of extreme retribution for Shinji and Rei's benefit, "there is a Geofront access building two hundred meters North with an elevator link down to a car that will be waiting for us, just in case."

"Well…I guess you covered everything" Asuka shrugged.

"Well…not quite" Misato said, suddenly looking a little sheepish. "You might recall how the school was looking for a half dozen parents to volunteer to chaperone the dance? As helpers and to make sure nothing…inappropriate went on?"

Asuka's eyes narrowed and Shinji blinked as he finally realized why Misato had been using the inclusive group pronouns 'we're' and 'we'll'.

"Go on".

"And the Commander was going to have to pay overtime to each of the Section 2 agents…and as I am technically the guardian to two of the pilots…and the school _wanted_ several 'parents' to watch over things-"

"_You,_" Asuka said incredulous expression on her face.

"Ja. Me" Misato said with a not very apologetic shrug.

"Oh come on Asuka, its not _that_ bad," Shinji defended Misato, getting a mummer of agreement from everyone else around the table and a distant 'Wark!' from a nearby avian. "Think about it this way; you can be sure I won't put any moves on you with _Misato_ on overwatch".

That statement, Shinji knew, could be taken two ways. Either that he would be too busy putting the moves on Misato to _bother_ with her, or, that he wouldn't try to make a move on the amazing Asuka, under the threat of sanction and punishment from the NERV Captain.

Asuka noted the ambiguity with an internal frown, but smoothly stepped up to the plate so everyone 'knew' what Shinji had meant.

"You think _I'm_ worried about handling _you_? Your short term memory appears to be faulty, Third Child" she sighed, cracking her knuckles ominously with a growing smile on her face. "But if you need _another_ twirl on the dance matt…"

"Ah yes, the Tango-el-Asuka" Toji rolled his eyes. "Step, step, duck, knife thrust-"

Hikari poked him hard in the side and he yelped, falling back away at her irritated look.

"That's enough Suzuhara" she warned him.

"Sorry" he apologized contritely, earning a smile from the class Rep.

"It's okay, just stay out of Shinji and Asuka's marital disputes," she extorted him, causing Toji, Kensuke and Misato to burst out laughing and Shinji to work his jaw several times, not _daring_ to speak as Asuka's betrayed expression at her friend turned from shocked, to sly.

"Thanks for the advice. I'm guess you two are becoming increasingly experienced in playing the married couple, I mean what I heard happened behind the school gym-"

"Asuka!" Hikari hissed in embarrassment, her face flushing furiously as Misato, Rei, Kensuke and Shinji suddenly perked up in interest.

Asuka actually had it on good advice they had done nothing more then kiss, but Hikari flushed as if Asuka had accused her of filming hardcore pornography videos, her conservative nature once again coming to the front.

"Toji, you sly devil" Kensuke smirked across the table. "So _that's_ where you vanished to when-"

"What_ precisely_ would they be doing behind the Gym, Asuka?" Rei asked in an all too innocent tone, with a perfectly curious expression on her face…

"Well um…you know…stuff" Asuka lamely replied, suddenly flushing as_Rei _put her on the spot, to a general snickering.

"Stuff…" Rei echoed as Shinji took a sip of his apple juice, Rei turning to face Kensuke. "Should we also partake in this…stuff?"

Apple juice shot from Shinji's nose.

"Is something wrong, Ikari?" Rei asked, glancing across at him with that all too innocent tone as Shinji started coughing furiously, Toji and Hikari stared at her in amazement, Asuka's jaw just dropped and Kensuke looked like he was about to faint…

"No…" he coughed, working to clear his throat and stop coughing as two parts of his mind simultaneously tried to laugh and swallow.

"Let me go and get you a towel," Misato put in, the Captain getting up and walking out of the room, at which point gales of laughter came back from the hallway, along with the 'thump' of Misato sliding down the wall onto the floor, desperately gasping for air as she wondered how the hell she had ever survived without these kids in her life…

* * *

The Diet building in Tokyo-2, smelled new, Shigeru Ishiba decided. 

He _hated_ it.

The old Diet building had been over sixty years old when Second Impact had hit, having come through the Second World War without being vaporized by Curtis LeMay, then amazingly, it had been in the part of Old Tokyo _not _to be flooded after the South Pole vanished.

Six months later however it along with what little of the once glorious city that remained above the waterline was vaporized by a rogue nuclear device from Chinese Islamic dissidents, in retaliation for the JSSDF involvement in China.

When the Diet had reconvened in Matsumoto -soon renamed Tokyo-2- the Federal Government had taken over a half dozen prefecture Government buildings until a brand new, dedicated building could be built. Two years ago, with the frantic pace of post Second Impact reconstruction slowing enough that the Government could put tenders out -without massive protests over building for itself while others went waiting, they had finally done it. It was a triumph –apparently- of modern architecture, a glittering series of steel and glass buildings sitting in the middle of the city, surrounded by reflecting ponds and Japanese gardens…

But it just couldn't replace the original, in Ishiba's mind. Too much history was being lost in the frantic expansion and rebuilding of Japans surviving cities, with ancient neighborhoods leveled and mass produced apartments thrown up.

On the other hand, he could admit it was not as if they had much of a choice either. In the final analysis, providing somewhere for millions of people to live after countless coastal communities had been flooded was the highest priority, safeguarding ancient neighborhoods less so. And Tokyo-2's birth hadn't transformed Matsumoto in _quite _the same extreme way Tokyo-3 had _bulldozed_ Hakone.

Still. It was hardly as if _everything _new was bad of course, far from it. Take for instance Subbasement Level-Six inside the new glittering building…

The 'Dark Room' sat on the lowest level of the new complex, designed systematically from the ground up by the best engineers and technicians in Japan to be utterly isolated from the outside world. No bug could get in, nor transmit out. No electronic emissions could be detected outside, the only data line was a single fiber optic cable up to the Diet's own network, on the good side of a dedicated 7th Generation computer it would take something like a MAGI system to brute force a hack into…and could be stopped by the simple expedient of pulling the network cable. Even so, most critical information was stored on stand-alone servers without even _that_ level of network connection, then deleted after briefings or presentations were finished.

And suffice to say, there were no man sized air vents for intruders to rappel down.

Ishiba exited the secured elevator on the sublevel and exited into the brightly lit hallway, the fact that he was a minute late for a briefing _he _had called not helping his current mood. The walls were a smooth teak and the floor polished black marble like the rest of the Diet, but the hallway itself was rather featureless compared to offices upstairs. No doors lined its walls; no windows looked out across Tokyo-2…

There was just the steel door and guard station at the end of the hallway which he reached in a brisk not quite run, balancing his dignity against the need for haste as he unclipped his photo-ID 'smart' badge, thrusting it through the tiny slot in the guard booth to the unsmiling guard inside, then placed his hand on the high resolution hand scanner.

The scanner flashed white, and then green as it compared his palm-print to the record on file for Major General Shigeru Ishiba, the guard then slotting his badge into a reader, causing the keypad next to the scanner to go active. Ishiba forced himself to slowly and correctly enter his eight digit code, which also flashed green as the computer double checked the ID embedded in the badge against the month's access codes in the database.

Now with both the computers _and_ human guard convinced he_was _who he claimed to be, the guard bowed, handed back the badge and opened the door for him, Ishiba stepping through into the antechamber outside the 'Dark Room' proper, reattaching his badge as it shut. There was a delay of a few seconds as the electronic countermeasure seal was re-established and checked before finally, a second door opened and allowed him access to the most secure location in the Japanese Government.

The 'Dark Room' was actually a complex of many rooms under the Diet, though 90 percent of the people to come down to this level, only ever visited one room in particular. He hurried past the lounge / reception area outside the primary entrance and turned left, along a short passage filled with complete, but empty offices, there to be used by the Prime Minister and his staff as a secure working location during an emergency situation, turning up another passage past a pair of fully armed JSSDF soldiers –thankfully in the black of the 1st division rather then the purple of the 3rd- whose salutes he returned as he entered the conference room.

It was an oval shaped, low ceiling room. A dozen communications and computer consoles sat around the perimeter, usually manned by _very _senior –and fanatically loyal- interior ministry staffers, who were screened by counterintelligence officers on a bi-weekly basis.

The fact that they were not here for this meeting really said a great deal of how serious it was.

A massive circular oak table set precisely in the center of the room with ten seats around it. Nine of them were already filled and he hurried to the remaining empty place, stopping behind it to bow deeply from the waist at the head of the table.

"Susimasen, Kyuma-San. I apologize for my delay".

Prime Minister Fumio Kyuma bowed back from his seated position, though it would be more accurate to describe the action as an abbreviated nod, raising a hand with minimal effort to gesture at Ishiba's seat, next to the Minister of the Interior.

Obediently, and rapidly, he sat.

"Shikata ga-nai, General" the Prime Minister replied, stating that his tardiness was of no consequence. "Please, begin when you're ready."

Shigeru nodded as he took a few seconds to gather his thoughts. The PM and the Interior Minister had both been briefed yesterday, five days after Shinji's debriefing had taken place –in this very room in fact- with choice highlights from Shinji's video played for both of them.

To say the PM was enraged would have been a gross disservice to the look of molten rage in his eyes, even as he commendably kept his face stony, stoically listening to Shinji's near mental breakdown as he relayed the slaughter that had taken place as the Third JSSDF Division breached Central Dogma.

It was bad enough that SEELE had apparently tricked him into unleashing the dogs of war onto so many innocents, Japanese citizens almost to a person whom he had sworn an oath on his ancestors to serve and protect. That SEELE had done so as a necessary precursor to starting their _own_ private Third Impact, was just beyond any easy ability to get ones head around, the PM sitting for a good ten minutes without saying a sound after the video had ended.

After he had calmed down however, Kyuma –a former district court judge- had pointed out the major problem with Shinji's evidence. Although accepting Shigeru's word that it could be taken as the truth, it was a far cry from something legal enough to put in court.

After all, technically most if it hadn't actually _happened_.

Yet.

Of course, there was always the 'dirty' solution of having Ikari –the elder one- and as many of SEELE as they could get their hands on taken out. SEELE was powerful, but their cloak of secrecy was their protection. Once removed, they were far from bulletproof and the Prime Minister had commented that despite his long service to the rule of law, he was _ever_so tempted to order the Third Division to send some of its Special Operations people after SEELE, in an attempt somehow to balance the grand universal scales.

But ultimately, all three men agreed that more critical then just _stopping_ SEELE, was tearing down their veil of secrecy and _exposing_ them. The 20th Centuries greatest villains were gifted amateurs next to Keel and his merry men. Hitler, Stalin, Mao; they might have been responsible for one, two hundred million lives, tops, on all sides of their various wars, purges and other activities.

Collectively.

In contrast with the three _thousand_ million lives SEELE took in the Second Impact however, they looked rather pathetic. Let alone the fact that they were looking to take down the _other_ half of humanity in a_Third_ Impact, deciding the fate of billions of people on their own whims.

No. They had to _answer _for their crimes. Even if they were all _shot_ at the end of their trials, history needed to record this. To that end, the PM had given the green light for a half dozen operations JDA-Intel had furiously worked up or extended from existing plans, all based off Shinji's testimony. With what they had learned from Agent Balcony, they now knew _where_to look for the proof they needed.

It was just a matter of going out and collecting it. And then…oh yes, and _then_ the fun would begin.

But for the present however… Shigeru reached to a series of controls in front of his seat, inserted a flash drive and quickly tapped a series of buttons.

Hung from the low ceiling at six points equally around the table, six plasma displays activated with bright red 'CLASIFIED' warnings, as Shigeru marshaled his thoughts. The Generals and Ministers around the table would not be told the _whole_truth; _they_ didn't have a need to know. But as they would be critical in the contingency planning against either Ikari or Lorenz trying to end the world, it was time to start filling them in. To a point.

"All of the people in this room are aware of the existence of NERV and their role as the UN's frontline agency for dealing with the threat of the Angels," he started, cutting right to the point. "I also suspect that all of you are aware that the JDA -for close to a decade now- has been running a series of investigations into NERV and its predecessor agency GEHIRN, to determine if they had any hidden motives or agendas. The investigation was scaled down dramatically last year, after it concluded that NERV was dedicated to the anti-Angel Evangelion project with no discernable motives beyond that, wild stories of a secret controlling branch known as SEELE having no basis in verifiable fact".

He paused to take a sip from a glass of icy cold water, letting the people around the table share uneasy looks at each other, all of them sensing the Evangelion sized shoe that was about to drop…

"As of this moment, every person in this room has been given codeword level clearance for a compartment known as 'Wallpaper', excepting the Prime Minister and Interior Minister, who have both been in this compartment for over a year now. 'Wallpaper's' goal has been a second tier systematic investigation into NERV and its very _real_ secret controlling organization known as SEELE, while JDA-Intel maintained the 'public' fiction of our other investigations to keep it hidden from view. This unprecedented level of secrecy and security was a necessary precaution, after it was discovered that SEELE had compromised JDA-Intel completely, from the former Director on down, including key personnel in the NERV Investigation unit".

There was an excited and rather alarmed buzz from the people around the table at _that _bombshell, before a quiet tap of the Prime Minister's pen against the desk quickly restored order.

"Continue, General," he ordered softly.

"All the people at this table have been triple screened for any possible connections to NERV or SEELE and have been cleared, as have their immediate family members. All information at this briefing is classified Special Access - Eyes Only. _Any_ leak of this information will be considered High Treason, punishable by life imprisonment or execution"

_That_ statement stopped all fidgeting in the room cold.

"Yesterday, I briefed the Prime Minister on the outcomes of a breakthrough in our investigation unit from a new source, codenamed 'Balcony', graded as level Alpha-Two". Tapping a button in front of him the plasma displays flickered, switching from the classification warning as the lights dimmed, to the unsmiling, visored face of Keel Lorenz.

* * *

"Baka, where the _hell_ is my lunch?" 

The demanding sharp voice slammed into Shinji at point blank range as he carefully stacked his books inside his locker, causing his arm to jump as if he had touched a live power cable, the entire neat row of books at once crashing down into a mess around his feet, a pathetic counterpoint of knickknacks slowly falling one after the other to join the mess, as two dozen students around him in the locker room broke out into applause and cheers at him.

He sighed, but managed a wry smile as he mockingly bowed to his audience, stepping out ever so carefully from the entangling mess at his feet as he turned, staring directly into the ever brilliant sapphire eyes of Asuka Langley Soryu.

"Hikari is making us all lunch today," he told her in a carefully neutral tone to his roommate, wondering if she really _had_ forgotten that Hikari had offered to cook lunch today as a 'welcome back to school' deal for the trio of Eva pilots…or if she had just jumped at the opportunity to see if _he_ would jump.

"Ah. Right" Asuka muttered, glancing down at the mess around her feet and shrugging. "Sorry," she actually apologized before stepping around him to her own locker, ten meters away.

Okay, so she _had_ forgotten…and she had actually apologized?

_Hmm…how far he could push this?_

"Uh, a little help?"

"Oh don't be a wuss Ikari" she snorted as she stepped up to her locker, dropping her bag on the floor with a sigh as he started to gather up the debris that had come loose.

_Not _that_ far apparently._

Asuka's delicate fingers danced across her combination lock. "I have complete faith that as a _highly_ trained Evangelion pilot, you'll be able to manage the arduous task of picking up-"

Asuka's locker exploded.

There was no other way to describe it in Shinji's mind. As the lock disengaged, a wave of paper poured out, flooding down to the ground, countless dozens of envelopes skidding across the polished school floor in all directions like a waterfall that slowly petered out to only a dribble falling to the floor, Asuka's face flushing as she stared aghast at the countless love letters around her that had built up after her enforced week long absence from school.

The corridor again resounded with cheers and applause from the students, even heavier this time as the two Evangelion pilots, roommates and classmates stood next to each other, up to their ankles in debris from their lockers.

Rei Ayanami, predictably, chose that moment to walk down the corridor. The First Child did not stop, did not alter her usual cool expression except to raise an eyebrow, commenting that 'Synchronization training can be taken _too_ far' as she turned into the classroom.

No-one in the hallway but the three pilots really knew what Rei was talking about…but the fact that Ikari and Soryu had just been 'ice burned' by_ Ayanami, the Ice Queen _of all people caused the hallway to utterly _explode_ with laughter, causing Asuka and Shinji to both crash their heads into a closed locker door next to their own, again in perfect synchronization that only amplified the laughter to a whole new level, with students grabbing onto fixtures and walls to hold themselves up.

Fortunately the laughter cut off roughly ten seconds later as Hikari's head popped out of their classroom, studied the situation and snapped out commands in a tone that _would_be obeyed. Those who had business here hurried to their lockers, those who did not retreated into their classrooms, the Class Rep recognizing the dangerous look on Asuka's face and clearing the area around her in a hurry as she walked up to her.

"You okay?" Hikari asked as she stepped carefully through the floor of letters, being careful not to touch any of them.

"Why wouldn't I be" Asuka replied, her_ '_look' smoothing into a frown as she reached in and swept the last of the letters out of her locker, before selecting first period books and locking back up.

"You looked like you were about to rip someone's skull from their spine and hold it up as a trophy," Hikari answered in a dry tone, actually worried a little for her friend.

"So what if I did?" she said, waving in a dismissive gesture at the floor of envelopes and folded pieces of paper littering the corridor around her. "Plenty more where _they_ came from".

Behind her unconcerned mask however, Asuka found herself feeling acutely embarrassed, standing ankle deep in the pile of infatuation, right next to Shinji.

It was rather strange actually; all the little children who had written these letters _always_ said the same things. That they would die for her if she gave the command, that they would be her slaves, that they would never leave her…

They were all hopeless idiots.

Spineless wimps who could _never _earn her respect because they would _never_stand up for themselves. She didn't want some stupid puppy following her around with wide eyes, apologizing for everything that he thought might have upset her, regardless of if it was their fault or not. What she _wanted_ was a man…and almost against her will, she again thought back to last night, when for those few seconds Shinji had forced her to the floor, holding her down helplessly with a surprising strength, his body on top of hers…

No-one had _ever _had her in anything _like_ that kind of position before. And she was honest enough with herself to know that if it been _anyone _but Shinji –excepting Kaji naturally- who had _put_ her init, she would have ensured he would _never_ have been able to have children from that day forward.

But the uneasy truth was that Shinji Ikari, a boy she had known for just over two weeks was starting to drive her nuts in a way no other person her age had come _close_ to. She hadn't retaliated to his actions last night because, as confusing as it was to her, she had actually _enjoyed _the tumble around the matt. She had felt both comfortable enough around him _and_ comfortable enough _with _him to throw and be thrown around, letting him touch her and hold her-

_Enough!_

Okay, it had been fun.

Okay, Shinji was far closer to her concept of a 'real' man then any other person her age she had met –probably from all the time he had spent _with_ Kaji recently- and she could have done far worse for wingmen then he and Rei against the Angels.

And yes, he was the only person in this whole damm city she trusted enough to have escorting her to the upcoming dance, knowing he wouldn't try to feel her up or take her 'out the back' of the dance hall…unless she _asked_him of course-

_Stop that!_

They were…so alike in so many ways…but every time she wondered if they might become something more then friends, pilots, housemates…she pulled back.

Shinji, despite knowing her for only a matter of hours, _had_ opened up to her. He had shared with her in a low, level voice, his memories of his Mothers death. His pain and horror, his rage, compounded by his Fathers prompt desertion of him leaving him little more then a tool to be used, only to be called back when it came time to find a pilot for Unit One…

That day, on _Over the Rainbow_, she had come _so close _to sharing back with him. Her own history, her own terrors…but he had stopped her, misunderstanding the look on her face…

And the window had been lost.

Since then, she had _tried, _oh_ Gott_ how she had tried to open up to him in the same way he had opened up to her…but she just_ couldn't_. Every time she had thought the time might be right, every time she had opened her mouth to try and say _something_, a steel clamp had come down on her vocal cords and she had started trembling, shaking more and more until she had run away to make it stop. Every time she had reached out to open the locked door where she had shoved her memories away, a terrified four year old Asuka had clutched onto her arm and pulled, screaming and wailing as she forced her away from _that _door as fast as possible.

It was hopeless…and until she could (if she _could_) let Shinji see that part of her, until she could find the strength, from _somewhere _to open that door and let the monsters, the terror and the loneliness out for him to see in all their dark glory and accept who she _really_ was…he could never love her.

No-one could.

How could he care about her, if he didn't _know_ who she was? _She_ didn't know who Asuka Langley Soryu was half the time! If she let him get close, he would only end up getting hurt, and hurting her, and she quietly admitted that she valued his friendship…as that was what it was she thought about it, the first guy outside of Kaji she could actually respect, far too much to risk it.

_It's better this way for both of us_, she decided again. He _was_ a good friend…and a decent enough Evangelion pilot.

_Even if his Eva is a hunk of junk _she thought with a slight smirk as she turned back to her locker, mere seconds having passed.

"I don't suppose you have a box or something I can put all this junk in?" she asked Hikari as she shut her locker.

"Here you go" a new voice broke in from behind her. Turning, she found the track suited Second Stooge holding a box –well more of a tray, but it would do- and handing it to her.

Asuka blinked at that. Toji Suzuhara, her enemy, her negative, her, well, semi-nemesis for lack of a better word, was handing her a box.

"Thank you, Suzuhara," Hikari smiled a dazzling smile at her boyfriend –not that the couple had gotten around to using that word in public yet- as Asuka took the box from him slowly, warily.

"Oh I got the fun out of the system watching the locker explode," he shrugged with a smile at Hikari as he knelt down next to Asuka, starting to gather up all the letters into a largish pile. "So I thought the least I could do was help clean up."

_Ah. That explains that_.

"Commendable" Hikari nodded. "We'll need somewhere to store all of this-"

"Who said anything about storing it?" Asuka snorted as she knelt down, dropping the box to the ground and starting to shovel the letters into it. "Just throw it all out".

"Ah…alright" Hikari said in slight surprise, feeling a pang of envy running through her as she looked over the flood of letters. From the numbers, she estimated almost every guy in her year had put something into her locker, though she knew it was probably more a case of some people putting multiples in, plus more then a few guys from a year above or below who had snuck in.

And Asuka was just treating the offers and pleas like a gigantic annoyance.

_Well okay, it _is_ a gigantic annoyance _Hikari admitted to herself, smiling at Toji as he helped throw the piles of paper into the tray. _But…just _once_, I wish _I_ had been the center of attention this way…_

Her thoughts were interrupted as the bell rang, Hikari's eyes flickering to the doorway into Classroom 3-F as everyone started to amble into their classrooms.

"We have to head inside," Hikari said.

"Wait, I have to throw all this out! I don't want anyone going _through_ this!"

"I could take it to the Incinerator" Toji suggested.

"Not without _me _you're not" Asuka shot back, suddenly wondering if this was Toji's plan all along, perfectly explaining where the box had come from. She wouldn't put it past him in the slightest to sell off the letters to interested parties or something…

"Fine," he responded with a roll of his eyes, surprising Asuka slightly, forcing her to wonder _why _he was trying to be helpful.

"Alright," Hikari chewed her lip. "Go, I'll explain to the Sensei where you two have gone, just don't take too long," Hikari decided, jerking her head back to the class for Shinji, who looked from Asuka, to Toji and back again, before he smirked slightly and followed Hikari off.

_Perhaps he thinks we're going to kill each other _Asuka snorted as she scooped up the last of her love letters.

A part of her, a _small _part of her, noted the effort that some people had put into their envelopes. One in particular had quite magnificent brush strokes on the outside Kanji and it was a pity that she would destroy it.

But it described pretty much the entire collection. All pretty words, no substance at all behind them.

"I think that's the last of them" Toji said, lying flat on the floor and reaching under the lockers to pull out a couple of the letters and toss them on the top of the pile, quiet awe at the interest Asuka had generated fighting for supremacy with the feeling of betrayal at himself for what he was about to do.

"Okay" Asuka replied, taking a hold of the cardboard box and lifting it.

"This way," Toji said, leading her down the now almost empty passage, to the stairwell at the far end, then out the back of the ground floor to the back of the school, where the incinerator was, Toji expertly starting it up.

"We'll just have to wait a minute or so before it heats up" he said, crossing his arms and looking somewhat uncomfortable as the two moved upwind of the stack.

"Okay, that's _it,_" Asuka said with a narrowing of her eyes, dropping the tray to her feet.

"What's it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_Why _are you being so nice, or at least _trying _to be so nice to me, today?"

Toji swallowed.

Asuka noticed.

"Out with it," she ground out.

"Oh fine" he sighed with a roll of his eyes as he crossed his arms.

"Look, you know how I feel about Hikari and how she feels about me."

"Know, yes. Understand _why_ she does, no," Asuka replied, crossing her own arms.

"I'm sure you don't," he shot back, then stopped, took a deep breath and sighed. "Look…Asuka," he managed to get her name out, to the surprise of both children. "I don't like you a whole lot and you aren't that fond of me. But both of us care about Hikari. And although I don't understand how or why _she _likes _you_, I just know that you two are very close."

Toji paused for a second, as if gathering his thoughts. Asuka was vaguely aware that the incinerator was now burning cheerfully, but ignored it, finding this conversation far too interesting.

"Your point?" she asked, albeit with far less venom in her tone then she usually directed at him.

He sighed, before steadily raising his head to look her in the eye. "I was thinking, for Hikari's sake, we could call a truce." He held up his hands at once, as if he expected her to interrupt. "I'm not saying that we have to _like_ each other, or pretend to be best friends…I'm just saying that for her sake, we can at least _try_ to play nice around her. We're both spending a lot of time around each other, between Hikari on one hand and Shinji on the other…so…"

Asuka chewed her lip, a bad habit she had gotten into from being around Misato too much, before sighing. Truth be told, she actually enjoyed the verbal sparing with Toji. Similar to Shinji, except _he_ didn't back down or get intimidated by her in the slightest. And even if he lacked the polished elegance of Shinji's comebacks, being in her mind something of a dumb jock, he did _not _give her so much as an inch. Ever.

She could respect that.

"Okay…" she said, slowly extending her hand as if she feared she was reaching into the nearby incinerator. "Truce."

"Truce," he agreed, shaking her hand briefly before they knelt down next to the tray, and they each grabbed a fist full of envelopes, throwing them into the fire.

"Not that this means we're friends," he added.

"God no," she snorted as they worked their way through the pile. "And it doesn't mean that I won't call it as I see it…at least when Hikari isn't around."

Toji actually smiled slightly at that, standing as they threw the last of the letters into the now cheerfully burning pile, before he reached around and cut the gas flow as the letters were consumed, the paper would burn itself out, no reason to stay.

"I wouldn't expect anything less" he agreed as they headed back into the school, before adding "Demon."

"Nor would I, Stooge," she shot back, again with the slightest smile as they returned to their classroom. "Nor would I".

* * *

Rei Ayanami methodically worked her way through the eighty five messages that were waiting for her, when she booted up her laptop and logged onto the schools intranet. It was an entirely new experience for her to have people talking to her first thing in the morning, and she admitted it was an addictive feeling, a new craving to reach out to other people and be accepted as one of them. It was her first day back at school since the team training and she was finding herself pleasantly surprised with the flood of attention, her mind drifting back over the last hour's events. 

Walking through the gates in the company of both Asuka and Hikari she felt a flush she recognized as apprehension, but for the first time in her life, she had been unable to simply acknowledge the emotion and then place it to the side. It was an intensely curious sensation, but an intensely distracting one at the same time.

Fortunately, her memory had not failed her and she found a new type of enjoyment in smiling slightly at her classmates she had never really acknowledged, greeting them by name and trying one of several dozen variations of 'small talk' she had listened too in the school yard, or researched at her new home.

The results were…mixed.

But she learned much and actually made contact with a great many people, learning more about them in thirty seconds of contact then she had in a year of school with them as Asuka and Hikari chatted about a bewildering array of subjects, but invariably, the subject continually returned to _her_ new wardrobe, after many complements over her new hairstyle which she found rather flattering.

Apparently, the girls at school had an exceptionally fine intelligence network in operation. It was _so_ accurate in fact, that Rei wondered if she should report it to the Commander at some point, they appeared to have _superbly_ accurate information on everything from the clothes she had brought to the fact that she had in fact, been asked to the school dance by Kensuke Aida…

Hikari Horaki however, had taken her aside and sheepishly admitted that Asuka had told her everything.

And _she_ might have mentioned it to a coupe of people…who might have mentioned it to a few more in turn.

And so on.

Rei, recalling her calculus and the concept of an exponential curve simply nodded at the explanation, telling Hikari that it was no consequence to her that people knew what she had purchased. Instead, she had quietly slipped away from the mass around the Second Child, smiling at classmates and other people in her year she had never acknowledged, getting surprised smiles back, strolling around the area with her books firmly inside her bag, simply luxuriating in the activity of greeting people she had stoically ignored for so many years. A nod here, a smile there, occasionally a last name combined with one of the two and even a short conversation until finally she came upon the Third Child, along with several of his…and dare she say it, _her_ friends.

"Oh, Rei, good morning," Shinji smiled, again Rei feeling that strange resonance with him as he acknowledged her, that 'click' as she felt his mind connect in a way that she didn't understand, but still felt none the less. Rei could feel that Shinji was _genuinely_ happy to see her and somehow knew that he no doubt could feel her similar thoughts about him.

And ultimately, that was all she needed to know from him and he from her. It was a much more convenient method of understanding then 'small talk', all other things being equal…

"Good…good morning Rei," Kensuke said next, offering her a slight bow as she turned her gaze on him from Shinji. Rei had no such mental bridge with Kensuke, but none the less she took pleasure from his slightly nervous smile, generating a placidly calm one in return.

"Good morning Kensuke" she said back to him.

"You're looking amazing" he spluttered out impulsively, causing Toji to plant his palm on his face with a slight groan and Shinji's mouth to twitch up in a slight grin. But Rei, who was not precisely well tutored in the social niceties either, simply broadened her smile slightly and offered a slight bow.

"Thank you" she replied. "I take it that you have prepared for the upcoming dance?"

"Well uh, we're working on it" he assured her. "Shinji is going to take us for a tux fitting later today".

"Indeed?" she asked. "Then I will look forward to the result in a week's time…" Rei stated…then paused, tilting her head as if something had just occurred to her. "I don't believe you have seen my dress yet…have you?"

"Uh…no" Kensuke managed to get out; swallowing slightly as his mind suddenly wondered where this might be going…

Rei tilted her head back to a more normal inclination, almost as if disappointed.

"A pity," she simply said, before with the slightest twinkle in her scarlet eyes -and the duplication of a look she had seen Asuka turn on Shinji's back when he wasn't looking- she turned away to head into school, her –technically- superhuman hearing easily catching the whispered talk behind her.

"Dude…did Rei Ayanami just _flirt_ with you?"

Toji got no response to his question from Kensuke Aida.

"Dude? K?"

"Oh not again," Shinji joined in the one sided conversation behind her as she reached the school building, hearing the rapid staccato snapping of his fingers. "Hey Kensuke, come back to me buddy, yo, wake up!"

Presently, Rei smiled slightly in memory of the moment as she finished the last reply, seventy two of the requests having to do with her availability at the school dance were easy to reply to, giving a simple, if slightly apologetic reply in the negative to each.

Strange, how none of these people had shown interest in her, even as a friend before Asuka had 'transformed' her…

One of the messages _was _from Asuka in fact, suggesting a 'house party' for after the school dance at her place.

Rei might have had some degree of naiveté at social interaction, but she wasn't _that _naïve…replying that she agreed, subject to the approval of Captain Katsuragi.

Asuka did not bother to reply, but Rei heard her 'humph' of annoyance from across the classroom when the message arrived.

The final message was flashed onto her screen as soon as the computer finished its external network linkup. The pilot's laptops _looked_ the same as the other school laptops, but 'under the hood' were something else entirely, an order of magnitude more powerful with a customized operating system designed to establish a remote connection to NERV on startup, in case they needed to be contacted and their phones were either out or off. All they needed was a length of Ethernet cable and any kind of internet connection and they would be logged in, anywhere in the world. In Tokyo-3 however where the MAGI ruled, they were always on the internet, something that made them the envy of the rest of the class whose ability to occupy the mind through sensei's lectures was more limited.

Well, except Kensuke, who had hacked the schools internal firewalls with little effort within a week of starting this year.

FROM [[Akagi::57.128.87.254

'Monthly upload. 16:15 sharp.

-Dr Akai.'

Rei deleted the message with a mental sigh. So, they had decided to continue her uploads, after an oddly lengthy break. The consequences to this sudden decision were immediate and significant.

This would clearly cut into her socialization time.

Frowning slightly at the annoying interruption, she composed a message to classmate Chihiro, informing her that NERV had called her for tests and, regretfully, she would be unable to 'hang' downtown after school.

She studied the message for a few seconds, then added that she would deliver a greeting to her Father if she saw him in the Evangelion cages, before nodding, deciding it was an appropriate message, sending it off just in time to calmly answer 'present' as the Sensei reached her name on the attendance sheet.

* * *

The Boeing OV-203 Hyper-Shuttle screamed through the Earths Thermosphere. 

The gigantic space plane was probably the most amazing waste of taxpayers money ever seen, which said much given the pilfering NERV and SEELE had performed on humanities resources over the last fifteen years.

A replacement for the now retired Space Shuttle, the Hyper-Shuttle was actually a marvel of design and technology. Unlike the venerable Shuttle, the Hyper-Shuttle did away with the 'cheap' reusable booster rockets and external fuel tank. It could carry fifty passengers in the same comfort as an airliner from point to point in a suborbital arc, or in a cargo configuration, boost huge loads into orbit from a runway, before heading back down, for a fraction of the cost, waste or logistics of traditional chemical rockets.

The key to its genius was the quartet of enormous engines on each wing, which drank a unique thick 'sludge' of a fuel, which six micro particle beams -developed as an outgrowth of fusion research- then blasted and vaporized, generating an _enormous_ thrust impulse which was blasted out the back.

The technology had _redefined_ space flight, suddenly making the entire solar system a whole lot smaller...but ironically, when real space travel finally was in the grasp of humanity, no-one appeared to care anymore.

_It is a pity that the human race ceased caring about what was out here _Gendo Ikari thought to himself as he stared out at the vast expanse of the unblinking starfield above him. Almost unwillingly, he couldn't help but remember Yui had been an avid astronomer. Strictly an amateur -her profession was biochemistry and cybernetics, not astrophysics after all- she had loved spending time late at night looking up at the stars and the moon as he looked on from a distance, humming that strange old song about flying to the moon as she paned her telescope around in fascination…

_Foolishness_ Gendo chided himself as he returned his attention outside the spacecraft, looking down at Russia far below, speeding along at 14,000 miles per hour. _There is no need to reflect on the past and what has been lost on this road. I will _reclaim_ the past by shaping the future._

The Committee had kept him longer then he had anticipated, the old men both happy and unhappy at the same things as only they could be.

On one hand, they were very happy that the projected engagement-scenario costs thus far against the Angels were coming in far under budget for damage to Tokyo-3, even including repairs to the Evangelions and upgrades to Unit Zero to full combat status.

This had in turned annoyed Gendo, as he realized what he most owed this too was his Son's superb piloting skills, a fact that had won him a great deal of sarcastic praise from SEELE's public face, well aware of the friction between the family members and gladly taking the moment to heap praise upon him for raising such a fine warrior.

On the other hand, they were predictably petulant that he had taken a great joy in flatly rejecting any possibility of reducing NERV's budget to deal with the Angels, pointing out that that because they had been lucky _so far _in getting off so lightly, that they should not and _could_not get complacent, lest they all forget what happened 15 years ago.

_That_ had silenced the fools somewhat.

Still, for the moment, everything was proceeding well.

Patrol aircraft over the South Pole had detected a faint energy signature; the Lance would soon be in their grasp once again, apparently none the worse for wear after being at Ground Zero. The First Branch was making acceptable progress in their study of the 4th Angels S2 engine, aided by the partially recovered remains of the 5ths.

They were less then pleased at the loss of a full third of the UN Combined fleet against the 6th Angel, an engagement which was not entirely in agreement with their precious scenarios and had generated a great deal of heat that the Committee, not used explaining its actions to _anyone_, had been forced to spend vital time and effort putting into handling, to Gendo's amusement.

They were still not exactly sure _why _the 6th Angel had attacked the convoy, having no choice but to accept the only logical finding; that Unit Two had drawn it in. Without knowledge of Adams presence on _Over the Rainbow_, there was_ no_ other conclusion they could reach.

Still, the presented explanation had not exactly filled the committee with confidence.

That their attackers would home in on Lilith's presence searching for Adam had been the basis for all the defensive scenarios NERV had developed, letting humanity concentrate its defenses into creating a gigantic kill zone known locally as Tokyo-3.

But there was always that old staying about eggs and baskets…

NERV Central was the only NERV base with extensive anti-Angel defenses, to say nothing of the only combat ready Evangelions and pilots to drive them. The other branches _did _have had extensive security, but it was oriented around stopping the occasional terrorist or corporate spy, _not_ skyscraper sized attackers that could chew down an Armored Brigade for a quick snack if they were so inclined. If any of the future Angels decided to visit other NERV facilities around the world, the damage would be catastrophic, to say the least.

And worse, their scenario would be useless for predicting or defending against such a move.

_Not that their precious scenario suggests anything _like_ that will happen of course_ Gendo snorted as he looked down on the Earth. _The 6__th__ was off the Japanese coast, close enough to justify it being on the way to attack Tokyo-3. And the 7__th__ arrived precisely according to their scenario, mollifying any thoughts that something was amiss..._

"Excuse me. Since we're sharing the flight, do you mind if I sit here?" a voice asked from next to him.

"Not at all," Gendo replied smoothly, his face not shifting its focus one inch from the world under him and the unknowing people scattered across Siberia working hard in the newly accessible and resource rich fields scattered across the formerly perpetually snowbound areas.

"The revised budget for the…sample collection passed quite easily, didn't it?"

Gendo now _did_ let the slightest smile come across his face. The committee's desperate need to get their hands on the Lance was amusingly transparent and the cost for funding a modest naval expedition to the South Pole to 'collect' it had been neatly attached to the revised budget put to the UN Security Council. SEELE, who knew the _true _value of the Lance –beyond an enormously powerful Anti-Angel weapon- had played their puppets well, but they in turn hadn't realized just how much money earmarked for Gendo's own little projects had been laundered through Tokyo-3 reconstruction and expansion projects so completely that it would take years for them to untangle it…not that they _had _years of course.

The irony of having SEELE fund their own destruction _did_ amuse him.

Still, politicians could only be pushed _so _far even with the _best_ of leverage before they would balk at giving out cash, but with five Angel attacks in as many months after a 15 year pause, money was not exactly an issue. NERV's slight embarrassment at the initial engagement against the 5th Angel had been more then offset by the successful actions of Evangelions, all but one of the engagements lasting less then six minutes once an Evangelion was deployed, again mocking the UN and National forces which still tried and failed to intercept them out of stubborn human pride.

"The Committee's main concern is for their own survival. They are not stingy when their own lives are at stake," Gendo replied to the Chinese General as he sat down next to him. General Qiao Liang was apparently a 'do nothing' officer formerly of the Peoples Liberation Army and now of the UN's advanced projects group, at least publicly anyway. In reality, his only real concern was acting as the administrative officer of the newly expanded 6th Branch of NERV in Beijing.

"Oh, I have one more piece of good news," the General added as he studied his fingers with an unconcerned look. "All members of the UN Security Council bar the US have approved the budget for Eva Unit 06. And it's probably just a matter of time for the US as well, that country is allergic to unemployment."

Gendo accepted the news with an even nod. The US was always by far the most…prickly nation to deal with, always much more willful and independent then others, even after the Second Impact and the rise of the UN. The fact that they had two NERV branches on their soil, one capable of serial Evangelion construction unassisted by external NERV facilities –and under US Military Control no less- was something that SEELE was becoming increasingly concerned about, but not to the point they would take action.

Yet.

"And what about your country?" Gendo asked, even if he knew the answer. It had been the price of buying the General and his backers in the Chinese Central Committee and it had been all too easy for SEELE to provide it, placing another Government in their thrall without lifting a finger, exposing their existence or placing themselves at risk.

Just him of course.

Liang smiled with the slightest nod, a concession of Gendo's actions and the upholding of the 'NERV's' side of their agreement, the poor flag officer not having a clue just how far over his head he was in this game.

"We will participate, beginning with the construction of Unit 08. The plans for the second installation project are still viable…however; there is the problem of not yet having found a pilot."

_An irrelevancy if the dummy plug system works as planned _Gendo thought. Perhaps it might not be nearly as effective a system in battle as real pilots, but if they could ultimately swamp the Angels with massed S2 equipped Eva attacks without risk to Unit One or the pilot of Unit Zero, so much the better in his mind.

"The Angels have returned. We have no choice but to defeat them" was Gendo's reply.

Liang accepted the statement at face value with a nod, but his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"We don't want another Second Impact either," he said, causing Gendo to finally glance over at the General and acknowledge him, the double meaning clear.

The PRC Government might not know about SEELE's existence, but they probably suspected the Committee had _some_ kind of motive…and they were letting them know they were watching.

This was fine by him. Let them watch. By the time they figured it out, it would be far too late to do anything about it. Not that they would push _too_ hard to figure it out, lest they lose their newly promised upgrades and construction rights at the 6th Branch of course and the tens of billions of US Dollars in contracts.

The point made however, the General moved back onto other topics.

"I hear Chairman Keel was sulking over the pilots?"

"Foolishness," Gendo snorted. "The old men are sticking their noses in where they shouldn't, because they feel a loss of control over someone they never controlled in the first place."

"From what I heard, neither did you" Liang retorted with his own snort.

"There are many levels of control" Gendo replied, ignoring the sarcastic tone. "Both subtle and unsubtle. The attempt to place a chain around the Third Childs neck is redundant as he has placed one there himself. By letting him develop strong bonds with his fellow pilots and his guardian, he has exposed the fulcrum that underlies his being, as well as the levers to control him. Coercion is both counter productive and dangerous at this stage of the scenario."

Liang kept his peace as Gendo thought back to where all this had started. Looking for _anything _to sulk about, one Committee member had muttered about Captain Katsuragi's competence in controlling her charges, citing the danger of 'inappropriate' contact between the pilots that might complicate Angel engagements.

When Gendo had raised an eyebrow and inquired if _he_ was volunteering for the job, he had delighted in the uncomfortable shifting, pointing out that the teamwork exercises he had ordered were still ongoing, with excellent results. _If_ of course they wished to _disrupt _this and give the Third Child every reason to leave, well that was their prerogative of course.

Keel had not been amused at his sarcastic response (perfectly pitched so it couldn't be accused of_ being_ a sarcastic response of course) but he was far too skilled an operator to say it outright, instead commenting that they would interview the Third Child at a future point and make a suitable judgment on if his living arrangements were suitable.

_It_, Gendo had judged, had been a foolish and futile attempt to exert SEELE's authority

_What pray tell, old man, will you do if and when you tell Shinji to leave Katsuragi and _he_ says in turn he will leave Tokyo-3 if you try to force him? _

A rather vain and unusually ego driven move for the usually smooth operators…which made Gendo wonder if he was missing something. Shinji was…complex after all, with no simple definition to label him.

NERV had _created _the First.

The Second _belonged _to NERV, her self image and desires had been carefully sculpted around the Evangelion, she could no sooner stop being a pilot then SEELE could give up their quest for immortality.

Shinji however…he was the wild card. He was far, _far_ too valuable to loose given his astonishing, combat proven natural talent and the fact that only _he_ had the ability to pilot their most valuable Evangelion. Yet he was without any strong ties to NERV, every one of his psychological profiles utterly worthless in predicting his actions since he had arrived, almost as if in between stepping on the train from Nagano to Tokyo-3, he had had a personality transplant at a stop along the way…

Gendo allowed the slightest smirk come across his face as the acceleration from the engines de-orbital burn cut off and the aircraft started its atmospheric interface.

_Watching Shinji and the Committee face off against each other might prove to be an interesting diversion_.

* * *

"Well. This is the last night we'll be doing this," Shinji commented to Asuka as he flung his sheets up in the air, before letting them settle down onto his futon. 

"Thank God," Asuka agreed as she dumped her own sheets and pillows down on hers. "One more night next to Misato snoring and I think I might smother her in her sleep…accidentally."

"How can you smoother someone in their sleep _accidentally_?" Shinji asked with a confused tone, but interested look as he placed his pillows down on the floor.

Asuka shot him an arch, superior look.

"Do you want a _demonstration_ tonight, Third Child?"

"Uh no, that's quite alright," he replied with a sort of wary dignity that earned him a snort as Asuka continued to arrange her own 'bed', fiddling with the arrangement several times before giving up and tossing the pillow down on the floor violently and flopping onto the lounge.

"Man, why do Japanese people have to sleep on the floor? It's so _pathetic_" she whined, as she had every night they had been forced to 'eat, breathe and sleep together'. He had tried to debate this point with her on cultural grounds and lost every single time, Shinji quietly in awe of just _how _sharp and agile her mind really was when she tried.

So he took a slightly different path this time.

"You know Asuka, you _do _have more then enough money in your bank account to buy a bed if you want one," he pointed out in a perfectly distant tone, as if it was something he was saying in passing.

Asuka blinked.

Clearly, this rather simple and elegant solution to her hate of the Japanese custom of sleeping on Futons had _not_ occurred to her.

The 'first time' around Shinji recalled she had just pestered Misato until their guardian had 'borrowed' a bed from some empty Geofront sleeping quarters for her, ordering some grunts in the logistics department to ship it to the apartment in what probably qualified as an abuse of UN resources...until you calculated that keeping the Second Child as happy as possible was a goal of great merit and a worthy investment of NERV's considerable resources.

Right now however, the Second Child paused, her mouth hanging half open in preparation for a rant that stalled as her mind analyzed his statement and decided that he actually had a rather good point.

Then it opened fully.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that when you thought of it!" she demanded, not missing a beat.

"Because I thought a 'college educated, honors level student' like yourself would see the logical solution," Shinji replied, _greatly _enjoying throwing back her primary gloating point back in her face, watching her jaw tense slightly in the process. Without any good comeback to _that_ point, she just settled for glaring at him.

God she was cute when she was angry…which was rather convenient given that sometimes he thought it was her default state. And as much as he could sit here all night just staring at her, with her soft silky hair flowing over her shoulders, untamed by the A-10 clips she had left in her room, it was much safer to just to move beyond the annoyance before it turned into a fist fight.

"Come on, let's get to bed."

Asuka 'humphed' the way she always did on the rare occasions when she lost an argument, before she pushed off the lounge and walked over to the wall to slap the light switch, the room darkening at once, only the moonlight coming through the window lighting her way as she walked back and dropped to the floor with a wave of air.

There was the usual sound of movement as they both settled onto, then into their beds, Asuka taking much longer to find any kind of comfortable position before settling down, Shinji slowly drifting off as his breathing slowed…

"Shinji?"

Part of him could feel the siren call of sleep calling to him and told him to ignore the voice and just surrender to the oblivion...but the larger part Asuka Langley Soryu's fist had always held a solid grip on told him to wake up.

"Asuka?" he replied as he opened his eyes, letting him stare at the ceiling high above them.

There was a pause and the sound of her shifting on her Futon.

"You know…" she paused as if gathering her thoughts, "we're all alone here tonight."

Okay, _that _got his undivided attention.

His gaze shifted from the etched panels on the ceiling to the person next to him, rolling over to find that Asuka was also staring at the ceiling, her profile just that much more beautiful in the pale moonlight, the expression on her face would have been a mystery to most people…

But not to him.

'_We're all alone here tonight' wasn't what she was going to say _Shinji decided, the slight tightening of her face a dead giveaway for Shinji as he wondered what she had hesitated at telling him, but deciding to try and lighten the mood before she started brooding.

"Pen-Pen is going to be annoyed to hear you say that," Shinji pointed out, causing a flicker of a smile to pass over her face.

"Well the only two _humans _here tonight," she clarified her statement, finally turning to her left to face him, unable to see Shinji's hand under his blanket pinching his thigh rather painfully to force himself to focus on her face and not where her loose T-Shirt barely covered her chest.

"Misato left us both alone here, without supervision."

"I guess she trusts us both enough not to do anything…inappropriate."

"Oh?" Asuka's smile became…dangerous. "Such as?"

Shinji felt alarm bells start sounding in his head at _that _look.

"Given the way our attempt on that machine ended, I'm guessing dancing isn't what she's worried about."

"Oh stop being such a baby, it takes all the fun out of this," she sighed, blowing a strand of hair away with a sharp exhale of air as she adjusted her position, mulling over what to say. "You know…I had over fifty offers today to go to the dance with various classmates, at least thirty of whom already _had_ dates, mostly from our own school."

"I heard," Shinji nodded, knowing from Hikari that if the class rep hadn't gone at the 'line' of people waiting to ask her out at recess with a preverbal hatchet it would have probably been closer to _eighty_.

He also tried to ignore the spark of anger and jealously at the thought of all those people trying to ask _his_ Asuka out…

"You should realize just how lucky you are Ikari that I'm going with you. Most guys you age would _kill_ for the honor," she pointed out when he didn't elaborate on his reply, clearly impatient for him to confirm this great honor she had bestowed on him.

"More then a few guys expressed the same feeling to me today," he replied, easing up into a sitting position. "Most of them were rather…jealous."

"As they damm well should be," Asuka snorted as she rolled onto her back again, declining to tell Shinji that a very surprising number of girls had approached _her_ with much the same thoughts about 'getting' Shinji. Hikari had told her that more then a few of the girls had been _convinced_ that Shinji had known she was coming to Japan all along, hence why he had –politely- let it be known he didn't want to go with anyone local, despite countless offers.

Asuka had thought about shattering their illusions, pointing out that _she_ had asked _him _to the dance when she had first found out about it (and that he had _jumped_ at the chance) but she had held back. There _was _a fine line beyond which gloating was unbecoming, even for her, so she let them have their illusions, encouraging them with a hint that she and Shinji had first met when they were two.

True enough, even if she didn't remember it…and she grinned tightly as she again thought over Shinji's story about her whacking him over the head when he _dared_ stand up to her.

Some things never changed, it would appear…and the knowledge that she had known Shinji far longer then she had first thought was strangely comforting to her.

"After all," Asuka continued to lecture Shinji on just how damn lucky he was as he didn't appear to get the point, "you're going to the dance with the most popular, beautiful and downright sought after Girl in school; you _should_ appreciate your fortune Third Child".

"Well here's a question, who would_ you_ take to the dance, if I wasn't here, or wasn't available."

Asuka frowned slightly at his question, not quite able to completely suppress the suddenly uneasy feelings coursing through her at this line of questioning…if Shinji was starting to get cold feet…or Gott help her, if someone had_ stolen _him from her…

"Are you saying," she asked in a calm but none the less deadly tone, "that you are planning on standing me up?"

Shinji had the delightfully good manners to look shocked at her suggestion and flinch backwards, something that caused her body to start to leach back the chemical cocktail that had started her heart thumping.

"No no, I was just wondering, that's all," Shinji hastily pointed out as he saw the danger signs and hurriedly worked to defuse the landmine he had just stepped on without realizing.

"_Don't_ wonder," she commanded in that same deceptively calm tone, before she lightened it slightly as she considered his question, then dismissed it. "But to answer your question, really I don't know. I guess I would have picked one of the offers thrown at me at random or something."

A lie.

_I could never go with any of those fakes _she thought to herself as the silence stretched uncomfortably, Asuka realizing she had just told Shinji he was no better then any other random person, silently cursing her choice of words, even as a distant part of her wondered when she had become so considerate of his feelings…

Shinji, who could now read all this on her face rather clearly somehow managed not to smile at her and decided not to press the issue, having gotten his answer from her, without her saying a word.

"So…I was talking to Rei about the dress shopping," Shinji subtly shifted topics, causing Asuka's slight frown to vanish into a tight smile.

"Were you now?" she asked. "What did the First have to say for herself?"

"Nothing," he now frowned. "In fact, she refused to say _anything_ about your dress at all, claiming that she had orders not to say anything…you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Moi?" she asked with an exaggerated look of innocence on her face.

"Rei wouldn't take orders from Hikari," he pointed out. "In fact she would never take 'orders' from anyone outside of NERV, which rather strongly suggests that you gave her instructions not to tell me about the dress."

"_D_o go on," Asuka drawled, supporting her head with an arm against her pillow.

"Hikari is your best friend and even though we get along well, she would never tell me anything if _you_ asked her not to."

"How interesting," she nodded with a vague, airhead type tone that actually annoyed him slightly.

"So, I was…I was just wondering what it looked like."

"How _interesting,_" Asuka nodded again, somehow managing to sound even more vague and stupid, the fact finally hitting him that he was _not_ going to get an answer, she wanted the dress to be a surprise.

Okay. He could wait…there was only a week left as of tomorrow…and if she wanted to surprise him, well…it _had _to be good.

"Okay fine," he yawned trying to sound disinterested, rolling onto his back, then his other side. "Good night Asuka"

"How _interesting!" _she declared again.

"Stop that."

Asuka just laughed slightly as she rolled onto her back and took her victory for what it was, at the same time simultaneously grinning to herself at the flattering thought that Shinji had been asking about her dress, congratulating herself for getting the three people who had thus far seen it sworn to secrecy.

_I am going to blow the Baka's mind into itty, bitty, tiny little pieces when he sees me a week from now_ Asuka thought to herself with a somewhat evil look on her face. _If he doesn't pass out on the pavement outside Rei's place then and there, I'm going to be very, _very_ disappointed._

With that happy thought in her mind, she got herself as comfortable as possible on the stupid floor, sighed and went to sleep.

An hour later, the nightmares started again.

* * *

"Okay Rei, that's it, we're done for the night." 

"Roger."

Rei felt the familiar but slightly uncomfortable buzzing pressure of the neural scanners lining the tank fade away as they shut down, the First Child opening her eyes as the LCL buoyancy level was reduced, gently dropping her to the floor of the tank as vents opened and the amber fluid was reclaimed. She took a deep 'breath' of the fluid as the levels dropped, then leaned over and explosively expelled it from her lungs, coughing out the last of the liquid before she stood as the walls of the tank itself lowered into the floor, allowing her to step out into the cool air, slick with LCL.

Doctor Akagi looked up at her from behind her glasses without raising her head before she returned her attention back to her console as she tapped away, shutting down the system and clearly wanting to get out of here.

"The upload appears to have been routine, but we'll need to make sure there was no corruption before we move back to a weekly schedule," she announced without preamble as the console faded to darkness.

"Yes Ma'am," was all Rei could say, dripping naked in front of her.

"Well…that's it," Akagi said with a slight frown at her as she calmly waited for future instructions.

_Shoo!_ Rei translated that as in her mind, the subdued hostility from the Doctor still present in every gesture, nuance and look when the two were alone as, not for the first time, she wondered what she could have possibly done to attract such_ hate _from her…

"Yes Ma'am" was all she said, turning and heading for the tiny shower and locker off to the side of the giant room. She had stocked it with some of her hygiene products recommended by Asuka, taking a guilty pleasure in spending an extra few minutes after washing her hair to run an exfoliating glove lathered with a cleansing liquid over her skin, exterminating all traces of LCL under the hot water before she dried off and got dressed, managing not to shiver as her skin rejoiced once again in its newfound sensitivity. She had come dressed in her school uniform, but she had folded the green dress and red ribbon inside her school bag, complementing a brown ankle length skirt that matched well with the uniforms white shirt, over which in turn she put on one of her NERV windbreaker jackets.

Whereas Shinji's Jacket was a dark blue and Asuka's –of course- was a dark burgundy, hers was a light crème that complemented her skin quite nicely, at least in her opinion. Her Unit Patch was circular, the head of Unit Zero on her left breast with a bold red '00' painted across it, rather clearly showing her Evangelion designation, 'R. Ayanami' printed in black letters on her opposite breast.

She closed up the locker, ensured the shower was secured and her bag was packed, and then picked it up left the tiny bathroom. Doctor Akagi had long since returned to her office two hundred meters higher above this level and Rei found her own way across the cold and not _quite_empty room, perfectly aware of who (or whom) waited in the darkness, sliding her access card through a reader next to the meter thick armor grade door. It obediently rose into the roof, which was normal, but it revealed a tall man in a black uniform, with heavy orange tinted glasses waiting outside…which was _not _normal.

"Rei."

"Commander," she said, offering him her usual slight smile that she found was increasingly just a simple a set of muscular actions, without any real emotion behind them, as her new perception of her own worth clashed with his stated goals for her existence.

"The upload was successful?"

"Doctor Akagi requires time to ensure there is no corruption on the upload," Rei explained as he shifted slightly, gesturing down the corridor without lifting a figure, Rei obediently falling into line towards the elevators as with a hiss, the door sealed once again behind her.

"Indeed? I suspect she is being overly cautious, but that is not an unworthy goal in project of such importance," Gendo said in a typically dismissive tone. "We are behind schedule already and will need to make increased efforts to return to it".

"Understood," she replied blandly as they halted at the elevator. "If…I may ask a question?" she inquired, getting a glance that she knew meant for her to proceed, "why were the uploads halted? Have…I done something incorrectly?"

"Not as such" the Commander replied as the elevator doors opened and they stepped in, the Commander inserting his card and tapping a button much higher in NERV then their deep level, the elevator jolting into action with the usual 'click…click…click' of the level counter above the door.

"I…do not understand," she replied, mostly because it was what she _would _have said before she had started to think for herself.

Gendo glanced down at the young woman –he could no longer in all honestly think of her as a 'girl'- and frowned. Every day that passed, she grew to look more and more like Yui to him. Now with the attention of the other two Children, one of whom appeared to have taken Rei as something of a protégé after finding out how…limited her social skills were, Rei was changing all too quickly in front of him.

True, her growth was still limited and her core purpose, by all indicators appeared still bound to his without any problems, but…

There was always a 'but'.

What if he was wrong? What if Rei decided to betray him and the very purpose he had designed her for?

Free will.

It was humanities greatest strength…and its greatest weakness, the core difference between the offspring of Adam and the offspring of Lilith, the ability to _choose_. Oh you could try to constrain it, limit it, direct it…but at some point, every human had to make a choice to accept consequences one way or the other.

His decision to continue Rei's uploads was a calculated risk. He had considered leaving 'this' Rei active until the proper time, terminating her and then restoring Rei to an old image, but again, the blasted possibility of this Rei dying and having to be 'brought back' without all these memories raised far too many questions and was just too strong a possibility to ignore happening. Trying to place harsh constraints against Rei could only invoke consequences from the other two pilots, whom had apparently grown quite close to the formerly distant and aloof First Child.

Still, ultimately, he did have confidence. _All_ evidence pointed to the fact that Rei had not breathed a word of her _true_ purpose to either of the other pilots, nor any of the truths behind the Human Instrumentality project she knew of. She had never once given the slightest hint that she would disobey any order from any NERV personnel and when asked of her purpose, she had given the correct answers without hesitation.

All other things being equal, he would therefore have sufficient reason to declare Rei's new activities harmless to his agenda and in fact useful in their own ways for team building and morale boosting…but in his life, all things were rarely equal.

The line between caution and paranoia for someone in his position was not a well lit sharp edge, but a blurry gray zone that appeared to grow larger and wider every day as fifteen years of his planning came down to months of execution. It was like playing a game of chess where both sides' knights could randomly mutate into any other piece at unpredictable intervals, changing the strategic situation in an instant. All one could do was to use them ruthlessly when they opened up new avenues of attack, brace the defenses when an opponent achieved a window of opportunity and counterattack hard when again they mutated into a position of weakness.

All one could do was watch, wait and act.

"Rei, your actions recently have…concerned me," he admitted. "You have become close to the Second and Third children, moved out of your apartment into a new apartment and have dramatically increased your level of social interaction. At the same time, I can find no conclusive evidence that any of this interferes with your primary purpose."

Gendo turned away, still standing ramrod straight as he looked at the door, considering his position. Truly, he had no real concern if Rei wanted to make any friends, go shopping, date that Aida boy –who's Father worked for him, a useful fact to know- or go on a nightly killing spree leaping from rooftop to rooftop, so long as at the end of the day, she was ready to _do_ what needed to be _done_.

The fact that the Second had so proactively sought to improve her circumstances, aided and abetted by the Third and Captain Katsuragi was no danger. If anything, his review of the tactical training exercises had shown a remarkably polished teamwork that boded well for launching coordinated assaults against the Angels as opposed to engaging them piecemeal, the Evangelions fighting as singular parts of a larger, more terrifying machine as opposed to three small individuals.

And if Rei in these new friendships and respects found a _greater_ reason to throw herself into the fray to protect her friends, sacrificing herself in place of them to take out an Angel (and protect Unit One) without hesitation…then so much the better.

Although he had a disturbing thought that he might find the loss of 'this' Rei who had been around for quite some time, upsetting.

_Irrelevant_, _she will _return_ if she is lost, that is the covenant I have made with her_ he thought as the lift continued to rise, finally turning back slightly to face her.

"Indeed, there is anecdotal evidence that suggests these…'changes' have led to an increase in your value in all key performance indicators and as such, these changes should be encouraged, so long as this remains true."

"Yes Sir," was all she said back as the lift slowed, then the doors opened with a light 'ping' as they reached the administration level of NERV HQ.

"It's late. I'll have a car sent around," he declared as they exited the lift before he turned and offered her a slight smile. "I will have to…review your new apartment some time…Good night Rei."

"Good night Sir," she answered, bowing slightly before he turned and headed for his personal quarters, unlike most people in NERV, _he_ was quite happy to live inside the Geofront…probably because he felt many people wanted to kill him and he appreciated the layers of titanium battle plate around his bed.

_So, I have permission to continue from the Commander _Rei thought, letting a slight smile come across her face. _Unexpected, but none the less welcome._

The marked NERV car was typical of dozens of such vehicles in service around the city and the driver typical of any number of Section Two agents employed by the UN. He said nothing as she got in, driving without instruction up to a surface based train station a hundred meters from the Headquarters pyramid where a car train waited, loaded with dozens of cars of other late shift NERV personnel waiting to go home. Their car was locked in quickly and soon the train was underway, the platform their car rested on rising slowly on its hinges to keep them level as the train ascended a steep thirty five then forty degree angle track up through the Geofront sky towards the towers suspended above them.

It only took half an hour for the train to drop them off at a convenient car train station, and then drive her the few blocks to her house, Rei politely thanking the driver who nodded before pulling away. She glanced down to a nearby cross street down which Captain Katsuragi's apartment lay and debated if she should 'impose' as the Captain continually insisted she do whenever she wished, but eventually judged the time too late in the evening, deciding to just turn in.

She pulled her key out and entered the secure foyer then took the lift to her floor, noting again that this modern lift was clean, smooth and quick, a far cry from the aged and abused lift at her old apartment, which, she had found to some degree of consternation, was scheduled to be demolished.

It was not as if her new apartment was not in every measurable way _superior _to her old apartment…but she still felt a slight twinge of regret knowing the place of so many memories was soon to be destroyed as if it never existed…

_Enough _she told herself as she reached her apartment and took out a second key. _The past is just that, it is time to build my future_.

The door opened and she entered her apartment with a sigh, turning on the lights as she did so. It was much larger then she would have ever considered had she been given a real choice, almost half the size of Captain Katsuragi's apartment in fact, but Asuka had insisted the convenience of the location was too good to pass up, forwarding the relevant paperwork to the Vice Commander without Rei even knowing, the NERV bureaucracy working surprisingly swiftly for once and before she had truly thought about it, she had moved in. The furnishings were somewhat…sparse, but tasteful, what Rei considered an elegantly understated style where 'less' was 'more'.

The living room had a large soft couch on the far wall that faced the hallway wall and the plasma display hung there –that Asuka had demanded to plug her video game system into at some point- along with a number of bean bags the Second Child had pulled out of her astonishing number of boxes brought over from the Third Branch. A small four place table sat off to the side where the carpet of the lounge room gave way to the tiles of the kitchen, a small but modern and efficient layout she approved of, containing more then ample storage space for her few needs. Beyond the kitchen wall was her bedroom, which backed onto a balcony that ran the rear of her apartment, with a second bedroom opposite it that she had placed a spare futon in, on the off chance anyone ever decided to stay the night.

Next to that spare bedroom and opposite the kitchen was the bathroom and next to _that_ and the entranceway, a small combination laundry / storage space sat.

In short, it was foolishly oversized for her when compared to her last apartment, which had been nothing more then a bedroom/living area, a kitchenette and a tiny bathroom all rolled into two rooms…but she found it none the less a quite pleasant place to live…especially on the few –but hopefully soon more- occasions her friends 'dropped over'.

Placing her school bag in her room, Rei removed the uniform inside and placed it in a dirty clothes bin, before disrobing and changing into her silk night clothes, shivering as always as the garments slid across her skin like a writhing living creature, simply absorbing the pleasant sensations that resulted as she settled into her bed. She glanced out at the night skyline of Tokyo-3, from this angle she could _just_ make out part of the apartment building in which Captain Katsuragi's apartment resided…

And as she closed her eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep, she wondered not for the first time, what it would be like to dream, just once…

* * *

("I'm not a child! I'm going to grow up quickly")-

("So look at me")-

("Please, Asuka, die with me")-

("No! I'm not your doll")-

("I'm going to think for myself and live for myself")-

("That Girl over there")-

("Mom! Please, don't quit being my mom")-

("Mom! Mom! I've been chosen")-

("I'm an elite pilot, chosen to protect all of mankind")-

("I'm the best in the world")-

("It's supposed to be a secret! But I'll tell you anyway! Just for you")-

("Everyone will be nice to us from now on")-

("So, we won't be lonely anymore")-

("So, we'll be fine, even without Dad around")-

("We won't be lonely anymore")-

("So, look! Look at me")-

("Come on, Mom…Mom…Mom?")-

-And with a last desperate lurch, Asuka woke, coming off the floor and looking around the darkened room almost wildly as she shook uncontrollably, her face no longer the confident mask she always presented, but that of a terrified four year old as she buried her head in her raised knees and wrapped her arms around her legs tightly.

Slowly however, her racing heart slowed its frantic beating, her body's instinctive reaction to oxygenate her bloodstream as part of the flight / fight response disengaging as she concentrated, intellectualizing the primal feelings to rob them of their power with some success, as she slowly, carefully lowered her back against the futon again.

Outside, she could hear the distant sound of an ambulances siren as it hurried to help someone, feeling a final spike of despair that no-one would be coming to help her as once again, the nightmares returned.

They had been gone for the last week, sleeping next to Misato. She snored so loudly that she was woken up three or four times throughout the night, just as she had started to dream. It had had the effect of breaking her sleep into chunks of a few hours at a time, leaving her slightly cranky in the morning, but she freely and gladly traded the sleep for a respite from the dreams that had battered her year after year after year.

Oh not every night. Sometimes months would go by, causing her to dare to hope that they might have gone for good…then they would crash into her again.

And now, they were back.

She flopped down on the bed as she glanced across at Shinji next to her, his back turned on her as he happily breathed in and out, a sudden surge of envy at his peaceful sleep hitting her as she looked over at him, angrily reaching up to wipe away the tears that had come unbidden while she slept.

_It's not _fair she thought in quiet despair. _Why…why can't I just sleep…what have I _done _to _deserve_ this…oh Mamma…why did you leave me all alone?_

She had asked that question hundreds of times…and once again, no answer came as she shut her eyes, pulled her sheets tighter around herself and grimly settled down, not realizing that she had sprawled out much closer to the slumbering Third Child as she prepared to return to her own private hell.

Slowly she sunk her mind into the depths of unconsciousness and soon she hovered in the poorly defined shadow land between dream and consciousness as she tried -and failed- to return fully to sleep. Relentlessly, her mind fought her bodies demand for release, unconsciously perhaps terrified of returning again to face the horrors.

On the floor with her eyes shut, Asuka fidgeted. Perhaps it was her body randomly shifting, perhaps it was some small part of her unconscious mind seizing an opening. But the end result was that she rolled onto her side…and bumped into Shinji Ikari. On instinct, an arm and a leg came up and over the blissfully ignorant Third Child and latched onto him, her arm across his chest and her leg hooking across and around him, securing her position as her head found a comfortable place behind his, the warmth from his body starting to soak through the thin sheets into her.

She made a content noise and, slowly, the somewhat severe expression on her face melted into a softer, calm and almost content expression as for the first time in far too long, Asuka Langley Soryu feel into a deep, restful, sleep.

* * *

Shinji Ikari slowly woke the next morning, feeling strangely, almost overpoweringly…content. The last time he had felt anything like this… 

For a sudden, _terrifying_ half a second, he _knew_ had been taken back to the Sea of LCL...or that he had never left it, that it had been nothing but a dream _inside_ a dream.

With skyrocketing apprehension, he opened his eyes-

And breathed a sigh of relief.

He had _never_ been quite so glad to see Misato's living room, the soft yellow light from the sun filtering in, but not yet bright enough to signify it was time to get up, closing his eyes again and sighing slightly, exhaling his panic drain away, as he listened to the faint sound of birds chirping in the hills around Tokyo-3 as he relished the physical sensations of a world of AT fields all around him.

The futon was agreeably supporting, but comfortable. The sheets kept off the chill, but were not thick or heavy enough to annoy him and his pillow was soft under his head. The arm across his chest and its partner leg further down both held him gently, but firmly, pulling him close and allowing the incredibly comfortable warmth from the body next to his to flow into his back, as he lazily concentrated on counting the steady, deep heartbeats he could feel-

Wait a second.

Arm

Leg

Warmth

_Heartbeats?_

Not daring to move so much as a _nanometer_, Shinji concentrated on the sensations across his back, all of his senses coming online as his brain shot right to First Stage Alert, screaming at his nervous system for all the information they had ten seconds ago.

Yes. He could feel the chest of a _definitely_ female gender pressing into him, making him swallow despite himself as his mind traced the 'imprint' being made on his back, body warmth soaking into him and trying to entice him to just relax and go to sleep.

_THAT_ was not going to happen, his heart rate now accelerating like a bat out of hell made sure of _that_.

Tracing forward and across his side, he could feel the arm looping around his own upper arm and down, terminating in what felt like a hand lightly resting against the left side chest moving ever so slightly as he –and probably she- breathed in and out…and now that he concentrated, he could feel an intermittent but regular breeze playing at his hair, almost as if someone was exhaling into it…and he could smell just the faintest hint of a very familiar vanilla and strawberry scent…

Probing further down his body, he found there was no possible mistaking of the grip of the calf and leg that came across his him at his hip, wrapping over and down the other side to entrap his own legs.

Still almost unwilling to believe, he opened his eyes again and directed his focus down.

There was the arm. Elegantly smooth and limber, it was sitting across his chest, with red painted fingernails catching the early morning light most enticingly. Carefully, he risked shifting his head several degrees and looked down as far as he could…yes, he could just make out the sheet covered limb that had engulfed his lower body and tangled them irrevocably together.

Thinking faster then he ever had, he glanced 'forward' at the same cabinet Asuka had spied him in the night before last…and in the slightly angled reflection, he could make out Asuka Langley Soryu pressing right up behind him, holding him like a lover with a content look on her face that he knew must have matched the look on his, _before_ he woke up.

It all added up to one, inescapable conclusion.

'You are a dead man, Shinji Ikari' his mind notified him with a mental shrug.

He consoled himself with the fact that Asuka was at least holding (or hugging?) him from behind. Had he woken up _face to face_ with her at _this_ range, he probably would have started shaking so violently that she would have woken up…and, well, _that_ would have been _that_. At least this way, he had time to think, plan and, God willing, escape.

Ever so carefully, he started to move his right arm, pinned under hers, trying to nudge it away-

-And almost at once, it flexed and simply pulled him _tighter _into her, with a slightly annoyed murmur from behind him telling the folly of that idea.

Okay. He couldn't get out that way…perhaps if he shuffled his legs forward…

No luck. Strange, he had always fantasized about being trapped between Asuka's thighs…but he had never thought there would be so much _terror_ involved. It was funny the way some things came true…

He forced himself to relax, counting slowly to twenty before he started to think the problem through. He examined it patiently from every angle; every perspective…and his mind calmly reported the only logical conclusion.

_I'm screwed…Okay, okay. Don't panic…_

Then, with a sinking feeling, he felt tremors pass through Asuka's body followed by a slight sigh, both of which hit him with the force of an earthquake and a trumpet fanfare respectively, announcing to him that the Second Child had started to awaken.

_Oh who the hell are you kidding Ikari, _**panic!**

With no other options remaining, he played dead, shutting his eyes and 'going back to sleep' in the hope that Asuka might at least put off killing him until he could enjoy it, awake, on as many levels as _she _would…

* * *

Asuka slowly returned from the land of dreams, feeling so utterly relaxed and rested that she had to fight off an instinctive flash of annoyance at the fact that she was going to have to get up soon. Since coming to Japan, she had never had a night's sleep that had left her in anything_ like_ this state…and she didn't want it to end _too_ soon. 

She wasn't sure if it was because she couldn't get used to sleeping on the floor, or Misato's snoring on the times she stayed out here and not in her room, but her sleep had consequently ranged from barely adequate to poor. But this morning…she felt better then she had in _months_. After her first bout of nightmares, her dreams had been full of joy, hope and peace, of friend and family, of good times and fond memories, the specters vanquished to somewhere she didn't care to figure out. Even now, she just felt so _wonderful_, lying on her side and lazily hanging onto the wonderfully warm, soft and comfortable blanket, keeping her eyes shut as she felt the faint thumping of its heart beating, surprised at how fast it sounded to her…her…heart?

_Heart?_

Asuka's eyes snapped open, focusing on a mess of chestnut colored hair in front of her face. Almost in disbelief, she flexed her limbs slightly…yup; she was hanging onto Shinji like Misato protecting a slab of beer during an intervention.

From their positions, she made a guess that she'd rolled over and latched onto him at some point during the night…and as she lay there half stunned at this sudden twist in her situation, the rational, logical part of her mind had to wonder if _this _could be why she felt so perfectly at peace this morning. As crazy as it sounded…could simply holding _Shinji_ in her sleep have had such a profoundly relaxing (and calming) effect on her dreams?

Because the fact was, she had _never_ been able to escape the nightmares before. Oh she had avoided them. She had endured them. She had _suffered_ through them, crying herself back to sleep again and again in Berlin and Munich…but they had _never_ just cut off halfway through the night, swamped and buried under such a feeling of _peace_.

She had never woken up the next morning feeling so…so _alive._

But she would _not_ be able to look Shinji in the face today if he woke up and found her clinging to the back of him like some scared child. Biting her lip, she ever so slowly lifted her leg away from Shinji, out then up, grateful that her aerobic exercise programs had left her with such fine muscle control as she removed her leg without disturbing the apparently blissfully happy Third Child.

_Damn right he _should_ be happy _she thought to herself with a smile crossing her face as she studied Shinji in the reflection of the cabinet beyond him. _But then again…so am I. I don't know how the Baka did it…but if he managed to take the nightmares away by me holding onto him…then…well…_

Carefully, she drew back her arm and pulled her chest and hips out of contact with Shinji, shivering slightly at she was suddenly robbed of the warmth of the close contact, before she frowned, hesitated, then leaned back towards his ear.

"Thank you, Baka," she whispered in a low, almost inaudible tone to the sleeping Third Child, before easing away and getting to her feet, slowly walking to the bathroom…and missing the slightest smile that came across the face of Shinji Ikari, on the living room floor behind her.

* * *

"Hey Shinji, wait up a minute will you?" Misato called out as Shinji got up to head for the door as the tone of the doorbell faded, having been rung at exactly seven fifty AM, Japan Standard Time. Rain, hail or shine, Rei Ayanami arrived with a precision that was somewhat spooky to anyone who didn't know her…and almost as much to those who did. 

"Uh Misato, Rei's here" Shinji pointed out as he hesitated in his half standing half sitting position, glancing at Asuka in the hallway who was struggling to get her shoes on while snarling as she hopped around on one foot, saying something mildly insulting about the Japanese customs governing wearing shoes inside a house. "We need to get going or we'll be late".

"Its okay, I'll drop you at school" his guardian called cheerfully. "I just need to talk to you about something real quick, okay?"

"Hey, how come _he_ gets a ride and _I_ have to walk?" Asuka demanded as she finally got her shoes on, picking up her 'briefcase' style bag and glaring down the hallway at Misato, who was leaning against the hallway wall with a moderately serious expression on her face.

"Because it's good exercise and I need to talk to Shinji alone about something".

Shinji couldn't help but notice how Asuka's face twitched slightly at the fact that she was being excluded from this conversation…and he saw enough in that twitch to let him know she was worried.

He could guess what was going through her mind, because it was probably the exact same thought going through his.

_Misato knows! Oh God...not 'The Talk'..._anything_ but 'The Talk'...  
_

The thought blasted through his mind, obliterating any and all other concerns of any and all other issues of the day he might have been thinking about in an instant as he turned back to face Misato, franticly trying to school his face into an expression of simple curiosity as Asuka attempted a final protest.

"Well why can't I-"

"_Now _Asuka" Misato ordered in a tone that while still polite, did _not _invite refusal, the 'Captain' tone that not even Asuka would really try to push against.

Asuka managed to avoid chewing on her lip through shear willpower, not willing to show such a clear sign of weakness. If Misato had seen her last night, holding onto Shinji and she _told_ him about it now –after_ she _had declined to say anything about it to Shinji after waking up, she didn't know if she would be able to look Shinji in the face for the rest of the day…or week.

But unable to _do _anything about it and too smart to waste energy arguing when there was both no hope of winning _and_ every possibility that she would draw attention to something she didn't _want _attention drawn to, she just turned to the door, shot a…well, a _look_ at Shinji's back before walking down the hallway, stepping outside to greet Rei and shutting the door behind her

Shinji slowly sat back down at the table, Misato taking the seat opposite him at the far end of the table, making him suddenly flash back to his debriefing with the JDA a week ago…

"So, Shinji," Misato greeted him as she settled. "We…need to talk about what -"

Shinji Ikari cracked.

It might have been the semi serious look on her face. It might have been the fact that she had her NERV uniform on, putting her in the persona of 'Captain Katsuragi'. But his façade cracked none the less and it all come pouring out as he desperately tried to justify himself and 'his' actions in some kind of crazy plea for leniency.

"It's not my fault! I was asleep and she leaned over and held onto me and I didn't know because I was asleep and I woke up and she was hanging onto me I didn't say anything cause I didn't think she knew that I knew and she just _wouldn't let me go_ when I tried to get away and I just didn't think that it was important to tell you that…that…"

Shinji's incoherent rambling slowed, then cut off as he noticed Misato wasn't looking at him in disappointment, anger, or even acceptance…but confusion.

Confusion that gave way to a surprise…which mutated into amusement…and then exploded into laughter.

"You…you had Asuka grab onto you last night?" she cackled, dropping her folder onto the table and _thumping_ her body back against the wall for support as she was wracked by incessant giggling. "And you thought that I…I…" Misato tried to get out, before giving up and spending a good twenty seconds as she tried to get herself back under control.

"Oh Shinji, I _knew_ I should have checked on you both when I got home" she muttered, all but gloating at his scarlet faced discomfort as he found a wonderfully interesting pattern in the apartments carpet, refusing to look up as he realized how stupid he had just been.

"Mis…Misato, please don't-"

"It's okay, I'm just teasing you Shinji," she chortled with a wave of her hand, her tone slowly mutating into a more friendly and less mocking one. "I know you would _never_ do anything to Asuka…and she would never _let _you do anything," Misato said, before she paused and tilted her head slightly with a curious look. "Unless of course she _wanted_ you to 'do' something to her…"

Shinji just groaned, folded his arms on the table and crashed his head into the safe, dark place created there.

"Hey look, come on, I'm just joking," she called out, causing him to slowly raise his head, wondering precisely how much more his circulatory system could take today from these blood pressure spikes before he had a heart attack.

"I know…" he agreed with a rather weak smile, "but _she_ wouldn't be".

"Which is why we won't tell her that you know," Misato assured him as she reached out for the dropped folder, her face still furiously twitching as she fought the laughter back down. "If anything, I'd say she looked far happier this morning then she had in a _long_ time, it might have done her a world of good to sleep with you, if you'll pardon the expression".

Shinji could appreciate that. Her honest comment to him (even if she had thought he was asleep) of thanks, combined with Asuka's somewhat chipper attitude at breakfast had let him know that whatever else, she had actually gotten a good nights sleep and he knew better then anyone just how rare that could be for her.

"So um…how can I help you Misato-San?"

"Oh nothing much…I just wanted to know _why_ you have gone to such lengths to get the school dance going," she shrugged. "You got the Vice Commander to put it back on somehow and you've brought eleven girls in your year rather stunning dresses anomalously through Hikari, then after making yourself unavailable, you turned around and accepted the offer of a girl you've known for far less time then _any _of them, without protest."

Shinji felt his jaw drop.

"Um, how did you-"

"All your financial activity statements for the month get forwarded to my terminal," Misato explained. "And the Commander briefed me on your…activities with the Vice Commander when he called me into his office and told me I would have to go to the dance and watch you three."

"Uh, sorry about that," Shinji winced, knowing that most sane NERV personnel spent a great deal of time _avoiding _his Fathers office if at all possible.

Misato however, just waved it off.

"No big deal" she shrugged. "I got the impression he didn't really care about this whole thing anyway, he just wanted to make sure there was a certain level of security and safety provided...but he didn't really tell me anything about the _why._" Misato sighed, easing her coffee cup away with a finger as she offered him a comforting smile.

"No I meant you having to go and baby-sit all of us at the dance" he corrected her. "I mean I know it's your job, but-"

"Screw _my_ job," she snorted softly, her eyes not shifting from him. "But it's not _your _job to look after everyone but yourself. You had barely even _started_ at your new school when the dance was called off, but you went to a great deal of effort to get it put back on. Then you provided funds, anomalously, to ensure no girl would be without a dress. _Then_ you worked to hook up Rei with a date…even if she eventually had to take matters into her own hands."

Misato paused in thought for a second. "That girl has issues…but _damn_ if she doesn't look good in a dress…" she muttered before she shook her head. "Anyway. Then, you reject taking _anyone_ to the dance after you went to so much trouble to get it put back on, until Asuka arrived and forced the issue!"

"I'm not sure I get your point" he said with a slight frown.

Misato raised an eyebrow as she opened the folder which Shinji was able to read as some kind of account printout, tracing her finger down the list.

"So far you've brought all those dresses, fixed my car for me, brought a few bits and pieces for Rei's new apartment, brought a lot of food –mostly for _Asuka_ and not you, as well as a few other small things for this place…and the only things I can find that you've brought for yourself are the tuxedo for this dance…which you only brought because Asuka dragged you to it, and those new clothes a week ago, because she dragged you along shopping." Misato looked up with a genuine look of concern at him as she closed the folder. "Shinji, you've been running around like the worlds greatest problem solver. And, well, I'd like to know why you've been intent on doing _anything_ but cutting yourself some slack."

Shinji just blinked.

It was all too easy to think that Misato was an airhead, without anything resembling a brain inside her head, especially after she had knocked back a few cans of Yebisu. But he had forced himself since coming back to remember that she _had_ been to college with Ritusko and she _had_ managed to hack into the MAGI system when she put her mind to it…at the end.

She was _not _an idiot, even if it suited her most of the time to play the giddy party animal.

But how could he possibly explain _why_ helping those he loved brought him such incredible joy?

How getting Rei to open up, watching as she slowly crawled out of the shell his Father had nailed shut around her, had made him so proud of her he could have cried?

How when Asuka had 'asked' him to go to the dance with her, that it had taken all his willpower not to strut around the shopping center for the next six hours, smirking at everyone he saw with a goofy grin?

How providing his classmates _some_ kind of joy in their life of Angel attacks and friends vanishing gave him a kind of satisfaction that he had never felt before in his _life?_

Or how doing such small inconsequential things for Misato like fixing her car, were the most pathetically small things he could do to make her happy, after she had given up her life to save his?

How the _hell_ could he explain that?

"It was just because I felt a bit guilty," he sighed finally, telling part of the truth and hoping it would be enough.

He was just getting so _sick_ of lying to everyone.

_Especially_ Misato.

"Why?" she asked, though he could see in her expression that she had made a guess.

"The dance had been canceled because the insurance wouldn't cover it," he explained. "And the reason because it wouldn't cover it, is that the Angel attacks had screwed up everything in this city."

"And you felt responsible for _that?_" Misato asked with a raised eyebrow.

"According to Doctor Akagi, the Angels keep attacking Tokyo-3 because the Evangelions are here" Shinji pointed out with a slight snort. "That sort of says it all, doesn't it?"

Of course he knew that was a load of crap and he suspected Misato thought as much. Strategically, Tokyo-3 was little more then a gigantic lure for the Angels, that much was true. But the _bait _was Lilith, the echo of the second Angel apparently so similar to the minute heartbeat of the First that the Angels were inevitably been drawn here when they awoke.

Well except Gaghiel, who had passed close enough to the _real_ Adam to go into a frenzy.

"So one way or the other, we're _responsible_ for the problems caused by the Angel attacks. My classmates had the dance taken from them for no good reason, just illegal profiteering. I could do something about it, so I _did_do something about it."

_There, that should be believable enough-_

"I don't believe you".

_Dang_.

"You piloted Unit One initially because Rei would have been put in mortal danger. I saw the look in your eyes when you and your Father talked; I felt more warmth when I was at the South Pole fifteen years ago, I didn't think there was _any_way you were going to get into the Eva. But when Rei was wheeled out, you changed your mind and you've been frankly, protecting and helping her ever since then. And Asuka…" she shook her head slightly. "I was thinking that you two needed 'The Talk' sometime, I'll probably have to expedite it after what happened on the floor last night".

"Um…my Uncle gave me the talk a year ago," Shinji muttered but Misato just kept talking without noticing.

"Shinji, I don't know _why_ you're so dead set on trying to help everyone around you, just that you appear…well, driven to do so. The fact that you look so happy while doing it has delayed me having this conversation with you for some time, but I have to have it now. I want a promise".

"A promise of…?" he asked carefully, feeling suddenly trapped as Misato let her lips twitch slightly into a somewhat sinister smile.

"I want you to promise me that you'll go to this dance and _enjoy__ yourself_. Not fret about Toji or Kensuke or Rei or Hikari or even Asuka. Not look to help half your class…I just you to say _screw it _to the rest of the world for a night and have _fun_".

"You're…ordering me to have fun at the school dance," he said in a somewhat amused tone.

"You got it," Misato beamed.

Shinji rolled his eyes.

"Oh gee, Yes Ma'am Captain Katsuragi" he said with a mock salute. "Have fun at the dance, it will be hard, but I will be sure to – ouch!"

Shinji's_ slightly _sarcastic response cut off as Misato kicked him under the table, causing him to jump half out of his chair before easing back down.

"As I was saying," Misato continued in a perfectly calm and all too happy tone as she ignored his surreptitious rubbing of his shin bone, "I want to see you have _fun_ there, not just get dragged in on Asuka's arm as a glorified evening bag. You need to learn to live a little Shinji. There isn't any point in saving the world unless you can enjoy it".

_Trust me Misato, I _do_ appreciate it…I appreciate this world more then you can ever_ possibly_ know…_

"Misato…" Shinji sighed slightly. "It's not that I never_ wanted _to go to the dance. As I said to Asuka, it was just because I didn't _have_ anyone to take. All the girls in the class who kept offering to go with me just saw the famous Evangelion pilot, the hero, the whatever. None of them, except Rei, had a _clue_ whatit meant to step into Unit One and fight the Angels. As far as they all know, it's just a giant robot daddy gave me to play with, like a giant video game."

Shinji took a breath and swallowed before plunging on, noting how he was coming dangerously close to saying things he shouldn't.

"I don't _hate _any of them, it's just that none of them were at all interested in getting to know me, except for Rei, and I've connected to her on a level that just didn't feel…" he struggled for a word, "_right_, for someone to take to the dance. Asuka…" he paused and smiled slightly. "I _did _think about asking her soon after I saw her…but frankly, I was convinced I never had a chance in hell, until _she_ asked _me._"

There was silence in the room for a few seconds before he continued, looking at her with a level, earnest expression.

"You don't have to worry that I'm not going to enjoy myself Misato…I…I've wanted to go with her almost from the first time I saw her. I don't know if she asked me just because I was a convenient target or not, but I'm going to make the most of this and just enjoy myself…even if she really doesn't care about taking me."

Well_ that _was true enough. It had taken him all of six seconds from hearing of the dance (and its cancellation) from Toji to thinking about taking Asuka to it. There had been, of course, the slight problem that he hadn't had the first clue _how _to get her to go with him and he had resigned himself to asking and probably failing…until he had talked to Kaji, the master of masters of manipulation, finally understating why Misato had been so utterly suspicious and cautious around him for so very long, before just letting herself go.

Misato returned his stare for several seconds, her eyes boring into his rather uncomfortably as if trying to judge the truth of his statements, before they softened and she blinked, smiling slowly as she stood.

"I think you might be surprised Shinji," she commented cryptically, closing the folder and getting up. "Come on, let's get you to school."


	15. Both of you dance like you want to win 2

"D-Day. In all historical texts, a reference to Operation Overlord, which took place on the Sixth of June 1944; the Allied invasion against the German occupied French Coast as part of a major push against the Nazis to end their reign of tyranny. And today, once again, we find ourselves set in the nexus of great events. The Germans, represented this time by one Fraulein Langley Soryu, will-"

"Stooge…"

"Soryu? Um, where the heck did you come from-"

"I am going to _take_ that camera and _place_ it where the sun-"

"Pilot Soryu? I must insist on him remaining intact for tonight."

"Oh, right…okay. Look, I'll hold the camera until after tonight, and_ then _see how far it can go?"

"This would be acceptable."

If one were to watch the footage being recorded at a later date, at this point they would have had a nice view of the floor tiles bouncing and blurring as Kensuke cheesed it down the school corridor and around the corner, a rather dramatic end to the footage of one of the most important days at this school, this year.

Shinji Ikari, watching from a distance, simply shook his head as he retrieved the books from his locker he would need for this weekends homework. Asuka looked somewhat miffed as Kensuke skipped out of her grasp, the Second Child appearing to debate chasing after him and doing things to him with his camera in exchange for his…colorful monologue, but she somehow managed to contain herself, turning back to her locker.

Shinji just gave thanks that that was the end of it. Since Asuka had gotten up this morning, she had been acting rather…twitchy. Hell, _all_ the girls had been acting twitchy today, leaving the guys of his year dodging and running the hell away from them most of the day. He had seen Hikari, 'Miss Conservative and Control 2015' herself throw a rather large book across the classroom and peg Toji when he made a relatively harmless crack about the relative level of estrogen in the room. Asuka had put two guys in the nursing office when they made desperate, last ditch pleas for her to have pity on them and take them to the dance, by grabbing her shoulder and turning her around to beg.

And even on a 'good' day, _that_ approach could be best described as suicidal. Asuka had damn near made sure they _wouldn't_be going to the dance, even if they _wanted to_, necessitating a reprimand from the principal in his office that probably hadn't had the slightest effect on her given the cheers she had received.

Chiniko Tanaka had slammed her date -a popular track and field star- against the wall -who out massed her by three to one- and blasted him for five minutes straight with a tirade that had even Asuka clapping, after he commented that he would try to get around to pick her up around 'five o'clock-_ish_' rather then _exactly _five o'clock.

But perhaps the _strangest_ thing he had seen was Rei Ayanami, generally as cool and gracefully calm as always, following her fellow classmates around with an intent expression on her face, as if she was mentally taking notes about everything going on.

She had stood against the wall with an intent expression as Chinko berated her date.

She had silently glided behind packs of girls roaming the halls during recess and lunch as they chatted about everything, almost as if she was taking notes the whole time.

_Then_ she had tried out most of it on poor Kensuke at various times throughout the day, at one point channeling Asuka in a bad mood as she had all but turned him into a quivering wreck for giving the 'wrong answer' when she had asked him what time he would be ready by.

It had earned her a standing ovation from a nearby gaggle of girls, but Shinji had quickly pulled her to the side to ask her to tone it down somewhat, for the sake of Kensuke's sanity. She had readily agreed, probably confusing and terrifying Kensuke even more when she had walked over to the cowering boy and apologized, kissing him lightly on the cheek before walking away with her usual placid expression on her face.

Kensuke had just walked away in turn, lifting his glasses off and rubbing his nose slowly as his brain started to overheat. And now of course Asuka had finally all but crushed the last remnants of his sanity…but he should have known better then to make such an insanely stupid comment to _Asuka_ on _this _day.

_Well, we've got a few hours to rebuild his confidence _Shinji shrugged, guessing that all three girls would calm down considerably when the dance itself actually came around. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Rei waiting nearby, a calming presence in the chaos around him. He smiled tightly to himself as he saw that the 'bubble' she had always carried, an air of personal space that had kept people away like an AT field had vanished some time in the last week, watching as now she traded slight smiles and nods with all manner of classmates.

Rei hadn't really changed _that _much in most ways.

She rarely laughed. She often didn't do much more then smile slightly at people. She still spoke in soft, somewhat clipped and direct sentences…

But for all that, for all the things ninety nine percent of people would look at and say 'oh, she's still the same old Rei', Shinji rejoiced in her changes. She was just so much more _alive_ compared to the memories he had of her. So much so in fact that it had been very difficult _not _to laugh as she had 'politely' screamed at Kensuke, his poor friends face going almost as white as Rei's plug suit, probably not understanding that Rei really _didn't _mean most of what she was saying.

He would have to try and explain that to Kensuke. That she actually didn't _mean _any of it, just that her current role model could be a little…excessive.

And speaking of Rei's mentor, where _had_ Asuka gone?

Frowning, he reached for his locker door and swung it shut, turning to the side…and took an instinctive step back as he was presented with Asuka's unsmiling face at point blank range.

"Um…hi?"

"Aren't you _finished_ yet?" she demanded without preamble. "We have to get going if we're going to make our appointment Baka and so help me, if Hikari Rei and I are late because of your screwing around…"

She left the threat unfinished, but Shinji got the gist of it; he wouldn't live to have the glorious honor of accompanying her to the dance tonight.

Some small part of Shinji's mind therefore let him know it probably wasn't going to be a good idea to point out to Asuka that their hair styling appointments were not for another hour. And that it was only a twenty minute train trip from a nearby train station to Francesco's hair studio.

"Of course, I was just finished," he instead replied quickly.

"Well what the hell are you _waiting_ for then?" she demanded with a roll of her eyes, grabbing his wrist and yanking him after her down the corridor towards Rei Hikari and Toji, Shinji barely managing to get a hand on his bag and drag it after him.

"Uh…well you see," he tried to explain as he stumbled after her, "I'm not actually going with you to get your hair done".

Asuka stopped.

"Then WHY THE HELL am I dragging _you_ along?" she all but screamed causing every male in a thirty meter radius to flinch away from the shockwave as they waited for Shinji Ikari to pass into the realm of legends from the land of the living. The first person in their year to score a date with Asuka, who was then killed by Asuka on the day of their 'date'; an object lesson to all future generations that some things came with too high a price tag…

Fortunately for the Third Child, the Second took five seconds to close her eyes, take a deep breath and recover her poise, speaking in a deceptively calm voice as she relayed simple, easy to follow instructions as if speaking to a six year old.

"Go home. Get the stooges ready. Pick us up at five thirty. Got it?"

Shinji swallowed.

"Go home, get the stooges ready, pick you three up at five thirty," he repeated her words carefully back to her.

"Good," she declared, letting his wrist go and whirling around, hair charming auburn hair appearing a particularly burning shade today, sparing his life for now as she collected the other two girls and hurried them out the door without a further word.

_Yeah, this is _so _much fun Misato _he silently muttered as he wondered why in the _hell_he had ever thought getting the dance put back on was a _good _idea...

Toji appeared to read his mind.

"Do you _understand_ now Ikari?" Toji said in a somewhat bitter, despairing voice, perhaps unconsciously rubbing his muscular arm where Hikari's math's textbook had crashed into it, leaving an impressive bruise. "_This _is the end result of your tampering with things that should have been left the way they were! It's the natural order of things man, but no, you had to go and be a hero! Game over man, game over!"

The 'tough guy jock' then moaned and placed his head in his hands, leaning up against the wall of lockers.

It was a surprisingly common pose today Shinji reflected as Kensuke shakily moved up to join them, having seen the Demon safely off the school grounds.

"If Shinji hadn't tampered with things, you wouldn't have hooked up with Hikari," Aida pointed out. "Nor I with Rei," he added, clearly wondering if the dance at the end of this really _would_ be worth it.

Shinji could appreciate that.

Unlike Toji, who appeared to _really_ be getting into a serious 'thing' with Hikari, Kensuke's relationship with Rei was much more poorly defined. She had invited him to the dance as her partner and was acting rather friendly towards him. But he couldn't help but remember that initially when he had suggested Kensuke to her, she had agreed on the grounds that he was an 'acceptable choice'. He granted that Rei had grown up a great deal since then, but how much of Rei's activity towards Kensuke was Rei doing what she 'should' do in this situation, and how much came _from_ her, he just didn't know.

On the _other _hand, Kensuke had never _had _a girlfriend before, let alone one as molten hot as Rei had suddenly become. So it was rather unlikely _he_ would give _her _up if he had a choice.

Toji meanwhile had paused on the verge of a rant, raising his head from the wall as he frowned slightly at Kensuke's point.

"Well yeah…uh…I think-"

"Don't think, your brain can't handle it," a younger female voice put in. The three men turned to see Kana Suzuhara, Toji's younger sister walking up to her brother with a knowing expression, before placing her hands behind her back and beaming a dimple filled smile at Shinji that was all too cute. "Hi Shinji".

"Kana," he smiled back, still getting a kick out of seeing her walking around and beating up on her brother, rather then in traction _learning_ to walk again. If _that _was the only thing he had changed with all his efforts, he would still go through it all again, all the pain, the horror, just to see this result of _that _mistakes correction. "What do we owe the honor of your presence?"

"Since you didn't invite ME to go with you to the dance I'm not exactly_ happy_ with you," she pouted. "Still, Hikari was nice enough to let me help out with getting you ready," she said, squaring her stance. "Hikari gave _me_ the job of making sure all of you get home and get ready on time," she declared, with not some small bit of pride, placing a vaguely serious look on her face, her brown eyes narrowing ever so slightly in a way that was probably supposed to look intimidating, but she didn't have quite the experience to pull off, given the age difference between her and the trio of guys across from her.

Kensuke just smiled slightly condescendingly. "Sorry kid, we were going to go to the arcade and take an hour to just calm down for…."

Kana simply turned her gaze on him for five seconds and Kensuke, already fragile from the events of the day, crumpled like cheap tinfoil.

"…but heading right home sounds like a far better idea," he finished lamely.

"And_ you,_" she said, turning to face Shinji, "need to get going. You have to change and be ready to pick up these two by four at the latest!"

"Kana, I think you're taking this a little too seriously," he tried to calm her down with a smile, then hesitated as she pulled a cute pink mobile phone from her pocket and pointed it at him like a weapon.

"_Failure _to comply will result in a call to Asuka stating that you are all dragging your feet and not taking this seriously," she pointed out, getting instant silence and dropped jaws from two of the three guys, none of whom had _ever_ suspected Kana, cute little old Kana, could be so _ruthless_.

Shinji though _well_ recalled what she had done to Toji the first time around, after Toji had punched _his_ lights out in _her_ name. It took a _lot_ to get Toji coming to someone and _begging _them to hit him. And he kept _that_ memory firmly in mind when dealing with the healthy, vital Kana.

"Don't worry Shinji, she's bluffing," Toji declared with narrowed eyes at his sister, as if trying to see through her mind.

He did not however sound _entirely_ confident.

Kana just raised an eyebrow at his statement and flipped her phone open. And as she started to methodically dial Asuka's number, Shinji folded.

"Okay okay! We're going!" he surrendered, yanking his bag up. Kana smiled and canceled the call, but kept her phone at the ready as if it was a gun pointed at him…which he guessed it was, from a certain point of view.

"Good!" she said happily, as if she hadn't just threatened them with the horrible fate of a rampaging Asuka coming looking for them, pointing towards the exit. "Now MARCH!"

The three boys exchanged a look, and then headed down the corridor, herded by the 6th grader. It was a state of affairs that would have been patiently absurd any other day of the year, but just appeared to fit in perfectly with the way the space time continuum had warped for this day as he wondered how and when Hikari had co-opted Toji's younger sister as part of her 'team'.

"So um, I'll pickup Toji first, Kensuke, at about or a bit after four, and then we'll swing by and pick up you?"

"K," Kensuke nodded with a subdued voice as they exited into the school yard, not a girl from their year in sight, just a whole bunch of shell shocked guys.

Well, at least they had a weekend after the dance to let everyone calm down and restore normalcy.

"I'll see you then" Toji said with a salute, breaking off at the gate to head for his house with Kensuke following. Kana shot him a dimpled smile before turning to follow, Shinji just shaking his head and walking the other way for his house, almost, _almost_ wishing that Sandalphon would just get it over with and launch an attack on Tokyo-3 tonight.

Almost.

The thought of trying to deal with Asuka _after_ such a hypothetical attack had the dance called off, however, put any and all pain today into perspective rather clearly.

* * *

"The Section Two detail reports that the venue is secured and has been confirmed cleared of any surprises. Section Seven also just reported that the press is remaining in the dark about the pilots identities, I have to admit I'm quite surprised that the censorship is still holding so well". 

Silence.

"Captain Katsuragi will be leaving shortly to begin preparations for the dance. She has met the protective detail and supervised their preparations, her last report at thirteen fifty stated that all was in readiness for tonight, including the contingencies in the event of an Angel attack".

Silence.

"The First and Second, along with one of their classmates, will be getting their hair done for some time, then a NERV car will drop them off at the First's apartment to finalize their own preparations".

Silence.

Kozo Fuyutsuki looked up with slight irritation as Ikari continued to ignore him, brooding out across the vast expanse of the Geofront in the mid afternoon light, but he knew better then to say anything about it, simply closing his folder and waiting.

"Things are beginning to happen," Ikari finally said after a two minute silence, broken only by the low hum of the air conditioner.

"Such is the nature of scenarios; they reach moments of transition and points of mutation," Kozo replied after a short pause to consider the statement, finally edging one of his stones on the 'Go' board out, after several minutes of thought, pushing towards Gendo's flank.

"The committee wishes to speak to all three children at some point soon," Gendo replied, not even hesitating as he glanced over and made a counter move, aggressively pushing a stone out of line before he turned back to the huge windows in front of him. "Their meddling could have significant consequences to the team dynamic Captain Katsuragi has built up through the training programs." Gendo slightly tilted his head as if studying something only he could see. "Fortunately, this dance has generated the ideal opportunity to reinforce their inter-team bonding and resist any external interference."

_As opposed to _your_ interference_ Kozo thought but would never dare to say, although both men knew perfectly well he was thinking it.

"It is somewhat lucky that your Son went to such lengths to get this dance put back on then," Kozo replied, edging more stones to Gendo's apparent mistake.

Gendo actually smiled…chillingly.

"It is the reason I had it canceled in the first place," he replied without turning as he reached out and moved another stone, into a rather foolish position.

"_You_…had it _canceled?_" Fuyutsuki asked in both astonishment and confusion with a raised eyebrow, something of a rare dramatic expression of emotion for him in the presence of Ikari.

He had killed the dance, and then given the okay to use NERV's influence to have it put _back__on?_

"Correct," Gendo replied coolly. "The Third Child since his arrival has shown a predication for acting to actively help others, rather than acting out of his own self interest. All reports also indicate he only had the most casual of friendships and relationships at his old life, yet he has quickly made several close friends here."

Gendo finally turned away from the windows to face the Vice Commander, reaching over to slide a stone forward that Kozo had ignored as strategically worthless.

"By presenting him with the ability to act and help them, we have further encouraged him to put down roots _and_ we have given him a taste of exerting the influence and authority that an Evangelion pilot can expect, within reason, to help others. The illusion of controlling one's destiny can be a powerful tool."

Kozo just stared at him, then down at the board, where in move Kozo had never seen coming, Gendo had lured him into the jaws of a flanking maneuver that would rapidly eat up a quarter of his remaining space at the cost of a sacrificial pawn or two, winning him the game handily. He could fight it out, but the endgame was no longer in doubt.

It was a valuable lesson, if he hadn't learned it many times around Ikari, that he was more then willing to sacrifice 'lesser' units to achieve his own goals.

Signaling his surrender with a slightly admiring incline of his head, he leaned back in his chair.

"And it could not possibly be because you would like to see the children actually have _some _degree of happiness in their life before the end?" Kozo asked, with the slightest edge of sarcasm he couldn't keep out of his voice.

Gendo smirked slightly at that, looking across at the Vice Commander.

"You were always the sentimental one, Sensei," he noted. "If they are able to find enjoyment out of tonight, then I have nothing against that. Indeed, it can only help building links between them, further anchoring Shinji to this city and his purpose". Now his eyes narrowed slightly. "_So__long_ as they continue to fight and all play their appointed roles, then I have not the slightest care if they are able to find any enjoyment in the little time we have left".

* * *

"Come on in, it's open!" 

Shinji tapped the 'open' button next to the door and sure enough, the door to the Suzuhara residence neatly slid along its tracks, allowing him to walk into Toji's apartment at precisely 3:59:32 PM, Japan Standard Time.

"You're early Shinji," Kana's voice came from the living room. "Asuka will be pleased".

"You planning on telling her?" he asked with a slight smile that faded into a look of confusion as he walked down the hallway to the living room, to find Kana facing the TV while hanging upside down off the lounge, her shins over the back, her body on the seat and her head hanging down to the floor.

He felt understandably confused at the sight.

"Uh, if you'll pardon the question…_why_ are you doing that?"

"The games are too easy the 'normal' way," she shrugged in response without looking away.

Looking across at the TV, he saw that sure enough, she was playing the families video game console…and she was doing it upside down, with one hand _and _still beating the crap out of the AI.

"And yes," she added as an enemy was thrown across the screen to smash into a brick wall, her spare hand picking up her phone which had been lying on the ground next to her head, and pressing 'SEND'. "She wanted to know when you arrived, and I just sent her a message."

"Asuka asked you to _report _on my progress?" he asked in slight amusement…and fear.

"Oh yes" she replied with a giggle. "You have a very interesting girlfriend Shinji, almost as beautiful as me."

"She is _not _my girlfriend," he replied sternly.

_Yet._

None the less, his face went somewhat red at her claim.

"Is too".

"Is_not_".

"Is too times infinity!" Kana declared in a rather petulant tone as she, for once, actually acted her age, perhaps distracted by a fifteen punch combo that sent her virtual opponent into virtual oblivion.

"Kana, last warning," Toji put in as he stomped in from his bedroom down the hall, ready to go. "Dad says you'll kill your eyes doing that. And Shinji for the record got dragged into this by the Demon; he has more sense then to _date _her."

Kana glared, but clearly knew she had probably pushed as far as she could for the day, flinging her legs up and crashing onto the floor before rolling upright, her face a rather curious shade of red as she got to her feet.

"Whoa…that really rushes to your head," she laughed as she collapsed into the lounge. "And I think Shinji has _more_ then enough sense to date Asuka," she added. "I mean six months ago if I had told you that you were going to date Hikari…"

"Okay, you made your point," he muttered.

"What was it you called her? Oh yeah, that 'pig headed pig tailed'-"

"Okay that's it," Toji said as he started to flush red, reaching down to yank the cables out of the games console, liberating the dull black box with a triumphant gesture.

"Hey!" Kana protested as her night's entertainment vanished.

"Do your homework," he ordered her. "I've told dad that you're going to have it _all done_by the time he gets home tonight and you wouldn't want to disappoint him would you?"

Kana glared.

"Oh I love that look," he muttered, before leaning over and giving her a surprisingly tight hug that she –grudgingly at first- returned, tightly in turn.

"Don't screw this up," she simply said. "I _like_getting lunch at school".

"Har, har," he muttered as he stood. Like Shinji, he was dressed in his black pants, a white shirt and polished black school shoes he had very rarely worn to school, in favor of his omnipresent tracksuit. The bow ties, vests and jackets had been picked up by a helpful Kaji in the morning and dropped off at Misato's, letting them get dressed while waiting to pick up the Girls, and prevent any kind of accidents taking place with their clothes. "Come on Ikari" he said, heading for the door.

Then he stopped, turned and picked up the console before heading out, ignoring the muttering from his Sister.

Misato was waiting in the car park, still in her NERV uniform as she greeted Toji, who for once appeared to be a little too preoccupied to drool on sight as he and Shinji climbed into the back seat…and took a hold of the door armrest.

He had driven with Misato before too.

A short –in time, if not distance- drive later and Kensuke was added to the cars occupants, his usually messy hair actually combed into something neat with a part in the middle of his head, the hair still just wet enough to signal that he had showered and dressed at the last minute, Misato getting them back to the apartment by twenty past four.

"Make yourselves at home," she cheerfully said, breezing past the boys and turning into the bathroom, while continuing to shout instructions. "I've got to go and have a shower and get ready. Shinji, if the limo and Section 2 car arrive, just tell them to wait."

"Okay," he called back, gesturing everyone to leave their shoes on, the trio sauntering into the lounge room where the rest of their outfits were hanging from an indoor clothes line to make sure they didn't get wrinkled.

* * *

"Asuka, please stop pacing before you wear out the carpet." 

Asuka Langley Soryu, milliseconds away from spinning around at the apogee of her cycle and walking back down the carpet glanced up at Rei, who to her great irritation, was looking as calm and untroubled as ever, sitting on a beanbag, as if she didn't have the slightest care in the world.

"How can you sit there and be so calm!" Asuka simply demanded in reply, energy seething along her nerves and demanding to be released, barely able to fight the urge to _move_, to do…something!

"Would not being calm have any direct effect on making time run faster?" Rei asked, an expression of mild curiosity lining her face.

"ARG!" Asuka just exploded in response, crashing down onto the lounge opposite Rei's TV.

"Be careful," Rei chided her. "You do not wish to upset your hair or makeup".

"Does it look okay?" Asuka quickly asked in sudden worry…for the 19th time this afternoon, by Rei's count.

"It looks _very_ okay" Rei confirmed as she suppressed an annoyed sigh, wondering_ why_ pilot Soryu, who had always appeared so self confident, so self assured, needed continual reassurance today.

For that matter, this whole exercise had been a most irritating mix of confusion and enlightenment. Since Shinji had arrived, she had been thrown into a kaleidoscope of emotions and situations that she had not been prepared for, but was eternally grateful to have experienced, rapidly -almost recklessly- plunging into it all head first as she tried to absorb and understand everything of a world that had been hidden from her for too many years.

She had felt a great deal of confusion at the way so many of the girls in her year had been berating their dates, people they trusted and cared about to at least _some_ degree and had decided to 'try' it on Kensuke to gain a better understanding of _why _they did it…and had only discovered that it had made her very uncomfortable and had hurt Kensuke, something she intended to make up to him tonight at some stage.

Still, for now, her only real concern was to keep the over excited Second Child under control before she exploded. The sheer energy Rei had always seen in the Second Child had always quietly awed her, but right now, with no outlet, it was doing considerable harm.

"Close your eyes," she ordered her.

"What? Why?" Asuka asked with a frown.

"Please," she asked quietly, holding her gaze levelly.

Asuka's frown deepened, but she complied with an exasperated sigh, closing her eyes and leaning back into the lounge. "Fine".

_She's probably worried I'll knock the TV off the wall _Asuka thought with a sigh as her thoughts continued to chase themselves in small circles. She didn't _know_why she was so nervous. She had been to a few dances back in Germany and she had never felt this way. She had even attended the Oktoberfest festivities in Munich last year with Kaji, Germans (quite rightly) having a much looser view on underage drinking then many other countries. And while notallowedto get drunk, she _had_gotten a mildly enjoyable 'buzz' that she would _kill_ for right now.

_Damn Misato for banishing us to Rei's apartment and not Shinji and the Stooges! Her beer may suck but it's still _something!

Her disgruntled thoughts came to a halt however as with a whisper of air, Rei sat down next to her, Asuka slightly surprised that she hadn't even heard her walk over. Even more surprising was when Rei took her hand in her own, Asuka flinching from the cool contact as she started to pull away-

"It's okay," Rei said softly. "Just…breathe".

Asuka hesitated, not exactly feeling comfortable with the close contact, but forced herself to relax and humor the First…

And the strangest thing started to happen. Little by little, she felt her tension and anxiety start to fade off as Rei did nothing more then just _sit _there, holding her hand.

She didn't say anything. She didn't move closer. She didn't _offer_ anything more then her hand. Her grip was light, but none the less, Asuka somehow felt powerless to pull away, so she just sat there as the minutes passed as Rei took the 'edge' off her emotions. Not_eliminating_ them…but calming her enough so she wasn't about to go kicking down walls.

She opened her eyes, blinking to see Rei calmly move across to give her back some personal space.

"Calmed down?" she asked.

"Um…yeah" she nodded slowly, not entirely sure she had done it, but not able to argue with the results. She still felt her excitement for the dance, as well as the nervous energy she had been felling all week, but it was no longer overwhelming her.

The bathroom door opening down the hallway cut off any further thoughts.

"Um…I coming out," Hikari called from down the hall, sounding slightly nervous.

"Toji's going to be rather disappointed," Asuka called back with a sly grin on her face.

Rei could feel the flush of embarrassment from all the way down the hall at Asuka's jibe.

"Please, come out Hikari," Rei called in a softer, reassuring voice, shooting a slightly amused if chiding look at Asuka.

Asuka had to blink several times as Hikari entered the room.

Hikari was her best friend and she loved her like a sister, but she was just_way_ too conservative for her own good, either unwilling or unable to make the leap from 'girl' to 'woman'. She still carried her hair in the same pigtails she had worn since she was six and she still dressed in somewhat 'girly' clothes.

Now however, the girl had gone through the same crucible Rei had several weeks ago and at the hands of Francesco and his team, the woman had finally emerged. She now sported lighter brown highlights in her dark hair, her forehead covered with a fringe to just above her eyes that bridged the shoulder length haircut that wrapped around her skull, the thin and randomized highlights that layered throughout just_perfectly_ accenting the cut.

The style was _so _foreign from her usual and rather severe 'pull back and pig-tail' effort, when combined with the expertly applied mascara, eye liner and slightest touch of lipstick, that Asuka hadn't even _recognized_ her at first.

The dress she was now wearing, however, shifted the 'Hikari Improvement Project' into second gear.

The sleeveless black dress started as a thick strap on her left shoulder, one side of which curved left to wrap around her left side and the other which shot right across the top of her chest, defining the 'high' watermark of the front of her dress. It was higher then Asuka would have wanted if it was _her_ dress, but it still showed off a respectful amount of skin as the line crossed to her right flank just under her armpit, wrapping steeply down and around the side to emerge at the base of her ribcage, zipping straight across her back and connecting to the dress on her left at the same height. The soft fabric strip that curved around the back of her left shoulder then split into twin, thinner strips. One shot straight down defining the edge of the dress coming around, with a loop under her armpit to leave it free, while the other slashed diagonally down and across to where the right flank emerged, supporting that side.

There was a slit at below knee length that teased views of her legs, again without showing _too _much, but the dress halted just above her ankles, to show off a pair of black stilettos she had borrowed from her elder sister.

It was perfect for Hikari, a _huge_ step forward, but not _so_ much she was going to faint the first time she looked in the mirror…at least Asuka hoped she wouldn't.

"Wow," was all Asuka could say as she completed her circle around Hikari, finding everything exactly as it should be. "When the stooge sees you, his mind will probably blow so keep at least a ten meter radius for the first minute," she advised.

Hikari just smiled shyly, looking at herself somewhat nervously.

"Are you sure this-"

"You look beautiful," Rei stated gently, greatly surprising Asuka.

_I've never heard Rei say something like _that_ to someone before _she thought.

But the sheer honesty and _truth_in Rei's tone passed right through Hikari's rather nervous and defensive air, the class Rep actually smiling and straightening slightly in pride at Rei's statement.

"Thank you, both of you," she beamed with a slight bow. "Now I think it's…Rei's turn?"

Rei nodded and left the room as Hikari carefully sat down leaving Asuka to wonder if she really _had_ done enough to stand out.

* * *

Shinji made a final adjustment to his bow tie in the mirror before he decided that he had gotten it about as good as _he_ was going to get it and turned back to his friends. 

Kensuke was still staring at his reflection in a second smaller mirror, as if trying to find himself in the mirror…and Shinji could see how this might be a bit of an issue for him. The contact lenses he was wearing in place of his glasses, combined with his hair actually being somewhat neatly combed rather then just hanging out all over the place, had done a remarkable job in changing his appearance completely. Hell, he almost looked respectable, ready to interact with normal people in a normal environment!

Toji, in contrast, fidgeted. He was continually in motion, bouncing from one wall to the other as his athletic nature continually tried to dissipate his nervous energy by _doing_ things, a state Shinji wouldn't be at all surprised to find Asuka in at this moment either.

Toji was also of two minds about his tux. On onehand, he _hated_ wearing anything tighter then a track suit, which was why he wore one to school every day in place of his uniform. How exactly he was able to get _away_ with it was unclear to Shinji but he had never asked how, deciding _some_things were better left unknown.

But on the other hand, he looked _damned_ sexy in the Tux, Shinji knew. Mostly because Toji had said so at least seven times in the last fifteen minutes until Shinji and Kensuke had made him stop.

Both of his friends however stopped and turned to face him as he cleared his throat.

"Okay, the time is ten past five, I think we're just about ready to go down to the limo" he said with a slightly nervous grin, the Limo having arrived several minutes ago and a typical section 2 agent calling up to let them know.

"Except Misato" Kensuke pointed out with a glance towards the closed bedroom door Misato had vanished into half an hour ago.

"Yeah she better hurry" Toji muttered. "If we're not there at the Demons appointed time, she'll-"

Toji cut off from delivering his dire warning as Pen-Pen suddenly emerged from his fridge.

The warm water Penguin halted in his trip to the kitchen to stop and glare at the trio for at least thirty seconds, not a sound coming from his beak the whole time, before he turned away and waddled on.

"What was _that _about?" Kensuke called after the bird which pointedly ignored him.

"I think he is insulted by your choice of 'penguin suits' to wear to this dance" a rich and amused female voice came from behind them, causing the trio -whose nerves were not exactly calm- and avian –whose sense of decency was mildly insulted- to turn…and drop their jaws (and beak) in perfect unison.

Misato was wearing a slinky black dress, one Shinji recognized as the one Asuka and Rei had brought her in the shopping trip they had all taken a few weeks ago. It hugged her like a second skin, held up by thin spaghetti straps that arced into a deep 'V' neckline letting any male within visual range known that she was _definitely_ a woman, and _don't you forget it_.

Asuka had long since stolen his heart, as much for the fire in her spirit as for her looks but when you got down to it, she was still a young teenager, a month or so away from her 15th Birthday. Misato on the other hand was a _woman_ and not in any way shy of advertising the fact. And while she often enjoyed wearing loose T-Shirts and shorts around the house…._nothing_ she had ever worn in his presence before today had blasted him with such raw, overwhelming, sexuality.

"Um…wow" were the only two words his stunned mind could think up, vaguely noting that Toji and Kensuke, in synchronization and without prompting, had both fallen into deep, respectful bows…possibly because their bodies were chasing their jaws as they dropped towards the floor.

Pen-Pen just continued to stare with an open beak for several seconds, before snapping out of it and continuing on to the kitchen in haste.

Misato just laughed goofily at them, thankfully shattering the moment as she took in their reaction.

"Oh come on, I know I look good, but if Asuka Hikari or Rei find you three drooling over me when we pick them up, you'll regret it".

Well that was a buzz kill Shinji thought, none the less grateful for it as Misato somehow turned back from the high priestess of sexuality to his beautiful, if slightly quirky guardian.

"You look almost a pretty as Toji feels" he nodded slowly with a rather sloppy grin, shattering the stasis lock his two friends were caught in, generating laughter from one and a sheepish look from the other.

"My, you three _do _turn out nice with a little work" Misato nodded in approval, then frowned as she stepped closer, sliding a glittering black evening bag onto her shoulder. "But _what_ have you _done_ to your bowties?"

"What's wrong with them?" Shinji said a little too defensively at her tone.

In truth, they _had_ rather screwed up that whole part of getting dressed and despite a dozen attempts each, along with following step by step instructions pulled off the internet on Shinji's laptop; they had made something of a dog's breakfast of the whole deal.

"Men" Misato said with a rather theatrical roll of her eyes and a loud, exaggerated sigh. "You're all hopeless. Here, let me".

All three boys made it a point to stare at the apartment's rather uninteresting ceiling as Misato expertly and rapidly untied, then retied their bow ties one after the other.

"Hey, that's awesome" Toji perked up as he leaned into the mirror, a perfectly symmetrical bow tie now sitting proudly around his collar, above the light gray vest he wore under his black tux jacket. "Thank you Misato!"

"You're welcome" she beamed. "Well, shall we go pick up your dates?"

The group moved towards the door, with Pen-Pen muttering a rather annoyed 'wark' in a low tone that earned him a scowl from Misato, the Penguin ignoring her look and heading for the TV as they entered the hallway.

"Okay, lets do this thing" Toji declared in a voice that suggested he was starting a basketball match as he opened the door, Kensuke following him towards the lift as they looked over the concrete railing to make approving noises at the cars waiting in the street below.

"Don't you forget your promise Shinji" Misato said softly to him as he started after them, bringing him to a halt as she stepped out and locked the door. "You owe me one night of fun and relaxation".

"Even if you just increased my blood pressure twenty percent by walking out in _that, _Misato-San?" he muttered back.

Misato grinned in a disturbingly…_wickedly_ way, extending her arm in an clear gesture for Shinji to link with her, which he did, the two walking after Kensuke and Toji in the slowly cooling evening air, his guardian leaning in slightly towards his head…and Shinji trying not to shudder at the scent of lavender coming from her.

"Oh Shinji, if _this_ little number raised your blood pressure, I'd better call Ritsuko and get her ready for the heart attack after you see Asuka".

Shinji managed –somehow- not to faint dead away at Misato's whispered comment, but he _did_ feel his bowtie tighten by an order of magnitude as he got into the lift with her, Kensuke and Toji just smirking slightly at the linked arms as they descended.

The lift arrived at the ground floor with a ping and they exited, Shinji carefully untangling himself from Misato, who looked vaguely disappointed…but he wanted to get plenty of horizontal separation from her by the time they reached the limo.

A Section 2 Agent in what looked to be a some kind of standard issue tuxedo was waiting at the door and quickly opened it for them, Misato giving him a professional nod which he returned as the group descended the steps to the street from the apartments front door. A black limo was waiting right in front of the building, along with an unmarked black car with tinted windows, which Shinji guessed belonged to the quartet of agents standing around the Limo, vigilantly watching for the threat that probably wasn't there…but one day, might be as they approached the limo. One of the agents, his back turned, reached over and opened the rear door as they approached…then turned to grin at Misato from his –for once- clean shaven face.

"Well, don't you look lovely tonight?" Ryoji Kaji asked with his omni-present sloppy grin, causing Misato to come screeching to a halt from her previously graceful strides.

"YOU!" she gasped, all her poise lost in an instant as Shinji just enjoyed the look on her face, once again cursing his lack of a camera to capture Misato dumbstruck with shock and surprise before her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Yes, me" Kaji agreed with an overly dramatic bow. "Don't worry dear, I'll be on my best behavior" he promised as Toji and Kensuke, knowing the history between the two, quickly ducked inside the stretched limo and started gawking. "And if you would be so kind as to supervise the other children and keep them away from the alcohol, I need to have a quick talk with Shinji".

Glaring at him, but clearly happy at the opportunity to get away, Misato edged past him and into the limo, letting Kaji shut the door behind her.

"Now_that _dress could set a man straight" Kaji sighed, before stepping away from the limo and apprising Shinji with a critical, but approving eye. "Well, I have to admit Shinji I'm impressed. And I have a feeling Asuka will be as well" Kaji grinned, his eyes studying his closely. "How are you doing kid?"

"I feel like I'm going to throw up _and_ suffocate at the same time" he admitted with complete honestly to Kaji.

"Ah the first date" Kaji said, letting a nostalgic look come across his face as he threw an arm across his shoulders, leading him a few meters away from the Limo. "Cherish this night Shinji; you'll look back on this in the future with _fond_ memories".

"Assuming Asuka didn't kill me by the end of the night" he corrected Kaji, conquering his desire to throw up for another minute or so as he become increasingly convinced he would rather go five rounds with an Angel then take Asuka out into such a critically _public_ event. "I'm terrified I'm going to _upset_ her or _embarrass_ her in front of the entire year and she'll _never_ forgive me for it" he stumbled out his worries out in rapid fire.

Kaji just broadened his smile as he let go of his shoulder, turning to face him with a semi serious look on his face.

"The fact that you're more worried about _Asuka_then _you_is actually a _good_ sign Shinji. As long as you keep that in your mind, she'll pick up on it, take care of you, forgive you for any small mistakes you might make, don't worry about it".

"But I am" he gulped as it continued to sink into Shinji's increasingly terrified mind that this was _real_, it was about to happen and he was about to take Asuka Langley Soryu to the biggest social event of the year, a dance, when he was still so utterly unskilled in such social events he didn't have a clue_what he was doing here!_

Some of the sudden spike of panic must have shown, because Kaji stepped back close and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll be keeping an eye on you" he assured him.

"And won't it look slightly suspicious if you keep coming over to the table and offering advice?" Shinji muttered back, wringing his hands nervously.

"No, because I _won't_ be" he smirked, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a tiny nub of plastic with a flourish.

"What's that, a sedative for Asuka?" he asked in hope.

"You want to start your relationship with Asuka by drugging her? You're kinkier then I thought kid!" Kaji chuckled, causing Shinji to groan and, for the lack of any nearby walls to hit his head against, reach up and rub his temples as he realized what he had just said. "Seriously though, just hang on" Kaji asked in a suddenly professional tone, leaning in…and Shinji flinched slightly as Kaji pushed the oddly shaped _thing_ into his _ear_-

"It's a microphone and speaker combo" Kaji explained, stepping back. "I'll be watching and listening, but this is _your_ night. Asuka didn't invite you because she hates you, just keep that firmly in mind and be_ yourself,_ and you'll do just fine" he smiled, walking back to the car and opening the door for him, smiling at Misato who pointedly ignored him.

Shinji gave him a wry smile, but ducked into the limo-

_Wow _he thought as he looked inside, gawking at the interior before he carefully stepped over Misato with an embarrassed smile to an empty seat.

"Now _this _is why its useful having a famous Eva pilot as a friend" Toji declared as Shinji looked in, his friend clearly finding _this '_little date' far superior to the one Misato had dragged him on, that had ended up with him on Over the Rainbow getting slapped by Asuka…

Shinji just hoped she would have a less hostile reaction to _him_ tonight if (when) he screwed up as badly as he knew he would.

The interior of the Limo was white leather with polished brown wood paneling that turned the limo from a simple vehicle into a luxury transport. The seats were arranged in a backwards 'L', with a three place seat at the back of the car curving around and up the right hand side, facing a cabinet filled with all manner of alcohol and crystal tumblers, with a small plasma TV mounted on the low wall separating them from the drivers compartment.

Misato was sitting in the seat nearest the door and Shinji sat next to her with one seat between them, noting that Kensuke and Toji had claimed the 'sideways' seats in front of the liquor cabinet, both young men studying the drinks in front of them with considerable interest him as the car pulled out from the side of the road.

"They have every form of alcohol under the sun!" Kensuke near squealed in delight, reaching up to adjust his non existent glasses before he blinked in annoyance and leaned in closer to examine the labels. "Champaign, scotch, vodka-"

"Oh boys?" Misato called lightly as Kensuke started to reach for a bottle.

The trio turned to look back at her…then did a double take as she raised her right leg slowly and crossed it over her left, getting their undivided attention as she let the dress slide away up the leg…and reveal the mate black barrel of a Heckler & Koch .40 USP in a thigh holster.

"There will be no drinking tonight" she said, her tone rather substantially reinforced by the muzzle of the gun glaring at them before she uncrossed her legs, letting the dress shiver back down.

"You brought your _gun_ to the dance?" Shinji asked in amazement…and not a little fear.

Misato just shrugged.

"Regulations" she dismissed in an airy tone. "Technically I'm here as part of a security detail. Consider it incentive for you three to stay away from the drinks over there".

Shinji mentally sighed as his somewhat desperate plan to take the edge off his rather shaky nerves with hard liquor was rudely eliminated by Misato.

"_Trust me_" Kaji's voice suddenly came in his ear from the front of the car, somehow guessing his thoughts. "_The last thing you want is to say hi to Asuka with Vodka on your breath_".

_Well, fair point._

The rest of the trip passed quickly. Partially because his mind was elsewhere…but mostly because Rei's place really wasn't far away, but he had no time (or liquor) to try and calm himself down, meaning his mind was a whirlwind of emotions as the car pulled to the side of the road.

Rei's apartment building sat on the same ring of the Tokyo-3 valley as Misato's, but it was built on a slope that necessitated a line of shallow steps to the front door, which was flanked by well trimmed hedges that made it very difficult to see anyone walking up or down them from any point but the bottom of the stairs. Misato swung her legs out onto the pavement as the Limo door opened, accepting Kaji's offered hand without thinking as he materialized at the door and helped her too her feet, only to pull it away in reflex with a glare as she realized who was holding it.

Shinji followed Misato, not really noticing the supporting look Kaji shot him as he and his friends assembled into a line next at the front of the Limo, still well short of the steps to the apartment, feeling his heart starting to try and pound through his chest as he realized that he hadn't even felt _this_nervous when he had woken up to find Asuka holding onto him like a limpet…probably because she had been unconscious at the time.

"Alright" Misato beamed, giving them all a final critical look over before nodding, Shinji giving thanks that she hadn't reached over to try and rub some smudge off their faces or something. "Perfect, don't move" she ordered, flipping open a cell phone and waiting for a few seconds before someone picked up on the other end, simply stating "we're ready", Shinji missing the small but expensive camera sneaking into her hand from her bag as she retreated to the rear of the limo behind them, his focus entirely on the apartment.

Shinji heard the apartment door open...and the butterfly squadron launched.

A figure, sheathed in black, moved down the stairs but he couldn't make out anything more then that until Hikari Horaki stepped onto the street and turned –with just the slightest self conscious hint in her stride- towards them…

_My God…_that's_ Hikari? _Shinji thought incredulously.

In between her totally new hairstyle, the ever so subtle use of makeup _and_ the deep, dark black dress, Hikari looked…well…_sexy_.

Sure, he had never thought of her as _ugly,_far from it. But nothing about her had ever caught his eye in a 'drop-dead gorgeous' sort of way, her rather severe attitude not helped by her rather conservative tastes.

And being best friends with Asuka, like a candle trying to show off next to a bonfire, meant she was often rather overshadowed in his mind. Probably.

But right now…

_Damn._

He managed to tear his eyes away from Hikari feeling a blush on his face from his naked stare to glance over at Toji.

Shinji had always suspected that while there wasa real relationship building between the two, but that Toji may not have taken it as seriously as Hikari clearly did.

After all, Hikari had somewhat followed the 'Asuka strategy', hiding her feelings by mercilessly 'beating up' on Toji for quite a time. And despite the time they spent together, Shinji had always wondered if all his efforts might have been in vain, if Toji would hesitate in really giving Hikari a chance…

But from the look on Toji's face right now, Shinji had a sneaking feeling that it _wouldn't_ be a problem, as Toji stepped out of line, both partners visibly swallowing as they just _stared_ at each other, flushed in unison, and walked back to the limo with small smiles on their faces, pausing for Misato to take a picture, before getting in.

All without saying a word. At least audibly.

"I'll book the church" Kensuke muttered.

It_was _afunny enough joke, but Shinji was so highly strung out with tension right now that it just washed over him as he spotted a second figure making her way down the stairs, this time a figure of white and blue that Shinji knew in an instant from her movements, as graceful as a ballerina and precise as a surgeon, the identity both lowering and raising his tension as Rei Ayanami stepped out onto the street.

Yet again, Shinji felt the powerful –and somewhat disturbing- duality of lust followed by pride coming forth as his 'Sister' walked forward in an utterly perfect white dress with light blue highlights that perfectly complemented her new spiky, 'thick' haircut. She wore her dress with a poise that a Supermodel would have traded her soul for as she strode up towards them and as her eyes flickered to meet his, Shinji felt a deep amusement at his gob-smacked expression coming from her, before she smiled almost _shyly_ at Kensuke who Shinji guessed was even odds to pass out on the street right then and there.

But surprising –and impressing- Shinji, his friend simply offered an arm to Rei which she took calmly, Kensuke utterly absorbed and/or smitten with her as he moved up to the door of the Limo, again pausing for a photo from Misato before he helped Rei inside and then followed her in.

Leaving him alone on the street as he heard the door open for a final time…and he saw a figuremoving slowly down the stairs.

_Red. Of _course_ it would be Red _was the only thought that came to his mind before Asuka stepped out onto the street, turned to face him and stopped.

'Beautiful' wasn't anything _like_ a strong enough word to describe the young woman in front of him. 'Vision' was a little better, as were –paradoxically- 'indescribable' or 'un-quantifiable'. There were several choice epitaphs and curses which might express to some degree, the emotion explosion going on in his mind, but they seemed a trifle crude for the occasion. He knew on one level that she was still a fourteen year old teenager in the blurry line between girl and woman, still growing, still filling out, that she wasn't a 'woman' as Misato, in the strictest physical sense was.

But it didn't change his feelings in the slightest.

Asuka, was a Goddess.

It was the nearest word in his vocabulary to put in words, the flood of emotions running through him at that point in time as he simply absorbed what his senses were relaying to him.

She wore a pair of heels that perfectly matched the color of the dress, boosting her height to exactly match his own, a fact that he dismissed having any possibility of sheer coincidence. Her dress reached to her ankles and…_her dress…_

It started with an embroidered strip perhaps one and a half centimeters thick that wrapped around her elegant neck, crossing just under her throat, thickening to a modest width halfway down each of her breasts to create a thin triangular shaped gap in the precise center of her chest, as the embroidered pattern gave way to pure, smooth, silk that_resonated _in the sunset. The 'outer' edge of the 'strips' continued down, cupping around her outer chest and wrapping around both flanks of her slender body to meet just above the small of her back, the scarlet dress closing in on her hips before flaring out again to partially cloak her legs, though the knee length slit somewhat defeated the purpose of hiding her legs –if indeed it ever _was_a design goal of the dress.

Above the stunning, _adult _dress however –which was more then potent enough to blow his mind away- was her face.

Her hair was no in any of her usual styles, but had been worked into an astonishingly elaborate series of highlighted strips and curls that wound around, through and over each other at the top of her head, then cascaded like a waterfall down the rear of her head and her back, covering most of the skin exposed there, with a few curls teasingly rolling down the sides of her head to rest on her shoulders…and a fringe that masked her blue eyes behind a forest of dark red highlights in her auburn hair.

Lightly applied mascara framed her sapphire eyes which _danced_with emotions Shinji could not name, her lips forming a tiny smile, but if it was because she was happy to see him, pleased with his presentation, or just delighted that she had blown his mind somewhere into the ionosphere, he didn't have a clue, those twin orbs impacted with such an awesome _presence, _a feeling he had not felt outside of that seething siren call of humanity during the Third Impact. But if his mind had always shuddered away from _that_memory, right now he was desperately trying to burn every facet of this single, perfect moment into his mind.

She was nothing more or less then living proof that humans _could_find _just as much_ joyand understanding in a world separated by AT fields, as the world where they were linked as one. Standing there, he confirmed, for the last time he would ever need to that he was irredeemably _in__love_ with Asuka Langley Soryu. If the USS Missouri had been within a hundred kilometers of Tokyo-3, he would have asked Asuka to wait for few minutes while he ran to the quarterdeck to find an the instrument of surrender to sign, but he ruefully admitted it was little more then a formality, she had claimed him a _long _time ago…

* * *

Asuka felt her heart jump giddily as she walked out on the street and turned to face Shinji alone, the two Stooges having collected their dates and retreated inside the Limo. Steadily, she closed the distance with all the poise and demure presence she could muster…and in that one moment as she looked at Shinji, she knew she had done it. 

His mind had been blown clean into low Earth orbit.

All the effort she had gone to, all the panic shopping, all the work today to get ready…it was all worth it for this single perfect moment as she looked at Shinji's eyes and knew without any doubt that she finally had cracked the Shinji Code, and she had him in the palm of her hand…

Two weeks ago, she would have had a delightful time over the next few hours, doing everything she could to assert her dominance over him and put him in 'his place' relative to her. Not that she would try to make his time miserablejust for the _sake_ of it, no; it was just a case of making sure he knew his place in the pecking order of Eva pilots.

Asuka at the top, followed by either of the other two, she didn't really care who came next, as long as neither of them _dared _to presume they ranked up with the great Asuka Langley Soryu!

Even two _days_ ago she would have smirked and done _something _to throw him off balance, just a little, just for fun without any real malice behind it.

But yesterday, Misato had taken her quietly aside while Shinji was in the shower.

And she had been uncharacteristically direct.

_Shinji_, Misato had told her in unequivocal terms, _needed to have _fun_ at this dance_.

Misato had then pointed out –in case Asuka had been living in a cave on Mars for the last few months- that Shinji had been working all but non stop since he had arrived in Tokyo-3. That in between his crash course in Evangelion piloting, settling into a new school and having to deal with a new home with a new group of people –not to mention the occasional Angel attack- he had not had _any_ chance to stop and just have _fun_.

Asuka had seriously considered Misato's pleas.

She had been brought up as an Evangelion pilot; it was all she had really ever known. _Shinij _on the other hand had had all of this dumped in his lap not four months ago, without the luxury of years of testing, training and frankly, time to stop and blow off steam. And Asuka knew perfectly well, he had had all of it dumped into his lap in a city under attack and in full knowledge of what Unit One had done to his Mother.

But Misato's damn near _deadly _insistence that Shinji_ needed _to have a good time…and the implications both said and unsaid that _she_ would make or break this evening for him…

And in that moment, leaning against the Balcony railing with her guardian in the rather pleasant evening breeze, Asuka finally cracked the 'Misato code'.

Gott knows how many times she had _tried_to crack it back in Germany, but her blunt warnings about Shinji had finally provided the clue she needed to understand the core ideal that underpinned so many of her actions.

And it was so simple in hindsight. All the drinking, the debauchery, the overly happy and giddy attitude…

_There was no point in _saving_ the world if you couldn't _enjoy_ the world._

Reflecting on her sudden epiphany, Asuka had walked back to her room without saying a word, not out of spite, just in deep thought. Granted she wanted –had- to go to this dance to complete her arrival in Tokyo-3 in a grand, formal style. And granted Shinji was an important part of that…but in between when she had conscripted him and _now_, she could quietly admit she had come to look at him in a rather…different way.

_No, not _that_ way…but, as someone much more then he _had_ been to her…_

And as Misato had so bluntly pointed out to her, if _she_ screwed this up, the friendship, one of her few _genuine_ friendships with someone who was _so much _like her in so many ways, could suffer.

And Asuka, although she hated to admit it, was _tired_.

She was tired of being the Second Child.

She was tired of being the designated pilot of Unit Two.

And she was tired of being the most beautiful, most popular girl in the whole school.

She still _was _all these people, but a week of non stop Evangelion training, followed by a week of non stop school plotting had just left her wanting to go and have _fun _and to _hell _with the wider concerns for the night and her future, just this once.

And if Shinji wanted to do the same after _months _of non stop Evangelion training and combat, well, what was the harm in two friends just enjoying each others company?

Not that any of this meant she wasn't happy when she saw the effect she had on him as she stepped into view…

"_Don't forget to breathe,_" Kaji's helpful advice came over his earpiece, breaking the moment and making Shinji blink, realizing rather belatedly that much of the incredible tightness in his chest was probably due to the fact that his lungs were screaming at him for oxygen.

Asuka meanwhile, glided to a halt a few meters away, waiting calmly for him to get himself under control.

_Inhumanly_ calmly in fact.

"Shinji," she acknowledged him in a soft voice.

"Asuka," he acknowledged her back, after swallowing several times. "You look…" he hesitated, the old Shinji in _great_form tonight as she raised the edge of her mouth slightly in clear amusement at his state of stunned absurdity, which in turn triggered his mouth without his mind realizing it.

"Like a Goddess," he near stuttered out.

Then the corniness of what he said hit him

_Why the hell do I keep _doing_ that? _Shinji wondered, his mind flashing back to his impulsive complement of Asuka's hair style a week back. _Okay_ you _might think that about her and _she _might think it about herself, but you _don't_say it to her face!_

_How in the _hell_ is Kaji so damn smooth at this?_

Asuka however, to his immense surprise, _didn't_roll her eyes or snicker at him…in fact, she _blushed_–if only slightly- at his horribly clumsy complement, keeping her eyes locked on his as her upturned lip was joined by its other side, twitching into a perfectly genuine smile.

"Thank you," she said in a maddeningly calm tone, Shinji just focusing on his breathing as she let her eyes wander over him in casual study before returning to his face. "And you look quite well turned out as well".

"Th…thank you," he replied, but _with_ a maddening stutter as she stepped closer -directly in front of him- with the light scent of strawberries crashing into him on the evening breeze as her smile turned into a tight grin.

"Relax Shinji, I'm not going to bite," she whispered softly for their ears alone but with an almost playful undertone to it. "Just keep breathing and everything will turn out fine," she advised as she stepped to the side and offered him her arm, which Shinji carefully took.

Apparently _too_ carefully for her tastes.

"I'm not made out of porcelain Baka," she muttered at his light touch, Shinji again feeling a wave of heat on his face, but throwing caution aside, he linked his arm and found her hand, gripping it…and getting gripped back.

"Much better," she sighed. "Just relax. It's just me, Asuka, you know the person you live with? Train with? Go into combat with?"

_The girl I fell in love with, shared my first kiss with, the Girl I abandoned to die-_

_**No**_.

For her sake, he wouldn't, he _couldn't _think of her in that context. Not any more.

Not _ever_.

And right now standing right next to her, so vibrant and alive, frankly Shinji, for the first time since he had returned from the terrible events of that final day of his first life just didn't _care_about what _had _happened that day.

He was far more concerned about what _might_ happen, _now._ Drawing strength from Asuka's firm yet gentle grip, he walked her to the Limo.

"Oh this is perfect," Misato grinned broadly as she studied both of them together, an ominous whine coming from her cameras flash as it recycled for another shot. "I'll send out the wedding invitations!"

Misato was confronted with two separate glares that as always, had not the slightest effect on her enthusiastic energy.

"How long have you been saving _that_ one up?" Asuka demanded.

"Most of last week," Misato shrugged with an utterly unabashed look at her cameras ready light flashed on. "Okay, smile!"

Asuka's face immediately shifted from 'Laser Death' to 'Angelic Innocence' and Shinji, almost helplessly, felt a smile resonate onto his face as he again took in her perfection, before turning to look at Misato. Just in time too, as the flash went off and dazzled his eyes.

"Come on, let's get this show on the road, we're on a tight schedule!" Asuka demanded with a great deal of enthusiastic energy. Shinji let Asuka's arm go as he gestured her forward, Asuka carefully and quickly threading her way into the limo with the agility and flexibility of a gymnast, her right leg shamelessly sliding loose from her dress and getting his undivided attention for a few seconds as she swung down and in, before he followed.

The rear of the Limo was designed to seat seven people, which was rather convenient given the size of their party. The 'long' seat heading up the right hand side took four people, already filled with the other children who were all chatting to their partner, utterly oblivious to their arrival for a few seconds.

Then the two boys noticed Asuka sitting down on the right most seat at the back, carefully adjusting her dress as Shinji sat to her left and Misato to his.

They both blinked. It had never been her _looks_ they had had a problem with, after all.

Then they both snapped their attention back to their own dates and continued their inane chatter, as Shinji and Misato sat down and the car moved off.

* * *

"So where _is_ she?" 

"She's coming with Soryu of course. She should have been here earlier…but it's not like we really have anything to _do_ or that we _had _to be here early, it's just about showing how _dedicated_ we are, getting here this early".

"Oh please Riko, Hikari is so dedicated to her job she'll probably report _herself_ for being late by five seconds. So we can cut her a _little_ slack tonight."

There was a giggle among the four other Class Reps of the year represented at the dance as they considered the absent representatives legendary reputation for strictness and conservatism that had made her something of the 'Alpha Female' in her group of all girl Class Reps.

"Well she better get here soon, or she'll miss the start of this."

"Oh_please_, there is _no way_ Soryu will let them get here late. You just _know_she is timing it for a dramatic entrance."

"That's the truth. _Damn_ that girl has an ego."

"She has a fifty meter tall robot. It's not really that surprising she's a little…excitable."

"Ayanami isn't anything like her," one of the Reps protested mildly. "And Ikari is just so…so…"

"Selfless?"

"I was going to say _heroic_ and amazingly self effacing, but I'll take that."

"Cute too," another put in.

"Asuka's property," Riko commented lightly. "Unless you feel like fighting _her_ for him?"

"Uh no, that's okay…and speaking of the devil…"

The quartet standing at the edge of the sprawling reception center followed Representative Ayano's gaze to see a black four door sedan of some kind stop in front of the building, well ahead of the red carpet that led from the road a good fifteen meters to the floor to ceiling glass wall that was the front of the reception area. The second floor of the building jutted out almost to the road forming a large overhanging area people could assemble in, but everyone had moved inside to the reception area, which was little more then a large room backed by closed doors and steps that led to the upstairs dance area.

Almost their entire original year was standing around and talking inside the reception area, the girls busy complementing each others appearances, the boys just sharing a continual series of collective shrugs. Both groups also spent a great deal of time catching up with old friends who had been invited back for the dance, students whose parents had transferred them out in a panic with the first Angel attacks. More then a few of _that_ group would soon move back in with their parents in Tokyo-3, as the initial panic after the 3rd Angels attack gave way to a weary acceptance of their inevitability, combined with the proven civil defense success that had kept civilian casualties from the Angel attacks at zero.

But right now, attention steadily turned from idle small talk to the car that had pulled in well ahead of the red carpet, blue and red lights flashing in its window as a half dozen men in tuxedoes exited the car and were suddenly confronted by an identical looking group who materialized from behind the stone pillars and shadows out the front. The two quartets conferred for a few seconds before six of them headed back inside, threading their way through the interested students, politely smiling and nodding to inquires, but not engaging in conversation before they headed upstairs.

"Those three get their own _bodyguards_?" one of the four class Reps muttered in disbelief.

"Don't you ever attend the school council meetings?" another rolled her eyes at the ignorance of her friend. "Their lives are just too valuable to risk given what they do."

"Oh yeah, like _Asuka_ needs a bodyguard? Lest we forget what she did to two idiots early today?"

The quartet shared a laugh at the fate of the two idiots dumb enough to_grab onto _Asuka's shoulder and spin her around. Asuka's reflexive punch-kick combination had been extremely impressive, cementing her place as a 'do _not _screw with' girl in the minds of many and ensuring those two guys wouldn't be doing any dancing tonight…

Though the fact that they _had_done something as stupid as touching Asuka and –barely- lived to tell the tail had made them some kind of minor celebrities in the eyes of those guys.

The girls –sensibly- just rolled their eyes. Men, who could understand them?

Out the front, a black Limo now pulled into the curb, stopping with its rear door precisely lined up with the red carpet and setting off a wave of hushed murmurs as the class drifted towards the floor to ceiling windows. Parents or friends had dropped off most of the class, though a few _had_put together the money to take a limo or hire car of some kind.

_None_ of them had a car full of bodyguards however, which made the identities of the people inside a forgone conclusion as the year waited for them to show themselves…

The door finally opened…and Misato Katsuragi stepped out, flicking her hair back over her shoulder as she adjusted her dress slightly.

The utter silence from the males in the room staring out the window was rather conspicuous.

"_What"_Representative Riko asked in an awed, low tone as she studied Ikari and Soryu's guardian, as she made her way towards the building, "is holding up that _dress_?"

"The mental powers of every girl in this room who has a date," Representative Ayano guessed shrewdly, cocking her head slightly as she heard the curious sound of almost a hundred sets of teeth grinding behind the males who had crowded the windows.

There was a wave of deep bows from the guys as the NERV Operations Director glided through the front doors and into the reception area in her midnight black dress, the lady smiling in a friendly enough way at them but not saying anything as she breezed over to where a cluster of parents and teachers were finalizing their preparations, quickly making herself one of the group who headed inside to the relief of the girls.

At least until all attention refocused on the limo as Toji Suzuhara got out, followed by…

"_Hikari?"_all four Reps spluttered in perfect synchronization as the final member of _their_ group was helped out of the car by the jock.

"No…way," Ayano managed to get out as they started down the carpet, holding each others hands with a suspiciously practiced ease, Hikari's new hair and dress styles making it extremely difficult to believe that this_ was_ Hikari Hokori.

Actually, only the fact that Toji was on her arm appeared to lend credence to this conclusion, because this girl was very much _hot,_a label the absurdly self conscious Hikari took great pains to _avoid_…

"Nice shoes," Riko said in an outwardly clinical voice that _dripped _with envy to the female ear. "I _think_ they're Kodama's, that dress is new though."

"That _Hikari_ is new," Ayano corrected her. "I think Soryu is having some kind of weird effect on girls she hangs out with," the Rep said, swallowing slightly.

"Why do you say that?"

Ayano just inclined her head fractionally and yet again, the Reps gasped as they watched Rei Ayanami step out of the Limo, along with Kensuke Aida.

Rumors had circulated wildly and widely after Rei's so called 'transformation', though most of the girls had quietly dismissed most of it as something of an exaggeration. Sure Rei was much more_active _now, but honestly, it was _Rei Ayanami! _The idea that she could turn into some kind of sex kitten overnight had been widely dismissed by more then a few of the girls.

Such thinking wasn't just eliminated, it was _shattered _as Rei and Kensuke walked up the red carpet.

Rei walked the carpet as confidently and proudly as any celebrity or supermodel might walk such an event, her absurdly _stunning_ dress and exotic haircut grabbing attention like a magnet.

Former classmates who had not _heard_of this transformation just stared, working their jaws as they tried –and failed- to make some kind of comment on the situation, the two couples arriving soon after each other and soon being swamped by classmates and old friends, Hikari making her way over to the reps, who's more traditional Kimonos and dresses looked rather pathetic in comparison.

But all that attention stopped as Shinji Ikari exited the limo and reached an arm back inside…

* * *

Asuka got to her feet carefully with Shinji's help, adjusting her dress slightly as he shut the door and let the Limo move off to find some place to park. 

"Well. This is it," she declared to Shinji, noting the stunned expressions from their classmates out of the corner of her eye as she carefully made sure her hair was in place and her dress flawless, before generously taking the time to give Shinji a once over to make sure he hadn't lost his jacket or something.

"Yes, it is," he replied to her announcement with an only _slightly_ nervous smile at her, extending his right which she took easily with her left, again gripping his hand and ignoring the slightest shakes she could feel from him. All things being equal, he was actually doing much better then she had thought he would be doing. Apparently he had used the Limo trip between Rei's and the convention center to try and pull his shattered brains into some kind of order.

"Just remember Ikari," she gave final instructions as they headed in, the pair slowly walking towards the building and the faces pressed against the glass wearing expressions of envy and lust in the female and male areas respectively. "Have fun and enjoy yourself."

She paused for a second to shoot him a look, unable to help herself.

"But try to feel me up and you're a dead man."

"Situation normal then," he replied with the slightest twitch of a grin on an otherwise all too serious face, getting a half snort, half snicker from her, and a slight grip of reassurance which he returned as they walked inside.

They were instantly all but mobbed.

The next five minutes were an astonishing blur for Shinji as they broke apart into the surging crowd. Fully a third of the people at the dance were school students who had left before Shinji had finished his first week in Toyko-3, being buried deep in NERV running combat simulations that whole time and Toji and Kensuke happily took him around introducing him, as Asuka conquered the female half of the room.

It was even money in Shinji's opinion, if the 'newcomers' were more stunned by the new German student, or, by Rei 'Ayanamis and her 'new look'.

"And _this," _Toji proudly introduced a giant of a friend, uncommonly tall for a Japanese guy of their ages, "is the _second_ best basketball player formerly in our year, Osami Watanabe".

"What do you mean _second _best," the giant shot back in a surprisingly high pitched voice with a glare at Toji. "I out shot you by three baskets last season."

"If you include them and the other nine fouls that were called on you," Suzahara snorted, crossing his arms in an unimpressed, but amused way.

"Ref had his eyes shut," Osami muttered, glancing across at Shinji. "So,_you _are the famous Shinji Ikari? The pilot of Eva Unit One?"

"You've heard about me?" Shinji asked with a raised eyebrow and slight smile. "I thought there was a news blackout on most of NERV outside of Tokyo-3".

"The news blackout _is_ almost total," Osami assured him with a roll of his eyes. "I have no idea _why _given that that huge blue thing sat downtown for weeks where everyone could see it, but when you get outside Tokyo-3, news is hard to find on anykind of _official_ publication, meaning there are millions of rumors going around that hide the truth. I haven't seen anything about you or Ayanami…or that new pilot…?"

"Devil Girl," Toji supplied helpfully.

"Her name is Asuka," Shinji put in with a reproachful, if amused tone, this conversation helping him greatly to just loosen up and calm down.

"Yeah, she's pretty _hot,_" Osami agreed in appreciation as he tried to study Asuka through the pack of Girls around her.

"Uh no, I meant she's a total…bother to be around at times," Toji caught himself from saying anything more descriptive as Hikari started to drift in hearing range, getting a betrayed look from Kensuke.

"Coward," Aida muttered at his friend, who shot him a helpless glare.

"But hot," Osami insisted, clearly not going to let it rest until they acknowledged it, looking across at Asuka and the dress that hugged her body like an oil slick with a great deal of approval.

"Yes, okay, she's hot," Toji said with a sigh that said louder then words, that his friend just didn't get it and never would.

Fortunately, Toji was saved from trying to explain as the doors to the dance floor finally opened and the school's principal in a rather new looking suit moved to stand just inside the doors, waving for their attention and slowly getting silence from the crowd.

"Can everyone hear me? Yes? Good. Well, I'd like to welcome you one and all to the Summer Dance," Shinzo Suzuya said with a smile that got him a round of applause from his students, dutiful at best from the boys, but somewhat more enthusiastic from the girls.

The fact that it was the middle of autumn and going into winter had confused Shinji slightly when he had first heard the dance's name, until he had been told it was something of a mocking name over the fact that post Second Impact, it almost always _felt _like Summer in Japan, regardless of the time of year.

"Now, you've all signed your permission slips and handed them in so I_ know_ you all carefully read the rules…" -there was a general snickering at that- "…but to be sure, I'll go over them again. No drinking, no fighting. Oh and the men with the earpieces are from NERV intelligence, Section Two and are authorized to use lethal force, so play nice with some of our more…famous alumni, if you please."

To Shinji's disappointment, none the guy's still shooting looks at Asuka whenever their dates were not paying attention looked in any way deterred by the threat.

"And on the topic of NERV, I'd like to pay a special thanks to a person_from _NERV, an organization that went to extraordinary efforts to get this dance put back on, after it was taken off."

Shinji felt his blood turn to ice at the casually announced doom upon his head, exchanging glances with Kensuke and Toji, who suddenly looked tense.

All of them were thinking the same thing and all glanced over at Asuka, who had inclined her head slightly in confusion with a frown. Apparently he had caught her eye and she returned his glance with a frown and shrugged, misinterpreting his look as confusion rather then near panic, before they both turned their gaze back to the principal.

"As you may or may not know, the dance was called off for reasons of insurance, but we were lucky enough to have the insurance issue dealt with by NERV, allowing us to reschedule. Without this organizations help, we would not be here tonight."

Shinji felt Principal Suzuyas eyes focus on him for a second and he desperately gave the slightest shake of his head, not daring a more violent reaction that might give the game away, getting a rather worrying _smirk_ in return.

"So please give a round of applause…" their principal continued, clearly about to turn this _night_ into a _nightmare_ for him…

When Asuka found out that not only had he known about this dance all along, not _only _had he _gotten_ it put back on, but that hadn't _told_ her anything about it until Rei spilled the beans, his previous defense that he hadn't _cared _about it blown out of the water-

"Captain Misato Katsuragi!" Suzuya declared with a beaming voice, getting a thunderous applause from both sexes –for different reasons- as she stepped down the stairs next to him, taking her hand and lightly kissing it to a flattering smile as she waved out at the students.

Shinji managed not to fall to the ground, instead closing his eyes for a second and taking a deep, long breath, giving silent thanks that Misato had apparently talked their principal out of publicly congratulating _him,_accepting the thanks on NERV's behalf.

It was a very Japanese thing for the company to take the credit for the actions of someone working on its behalf, and right now Shinji couldn't be any happier for it as the pair retreated and the students started on in-

"Are you three ready to dance?" Hikari's voice suddenly came in his ear, making all three stooges jump a foot into the air before they turned to find the cluster of class Reps had dissolved, with the quintet heading back to their dates, the other four already pushing forward to get in at the front of the line.

Toji just grinned rather goofily at Hikari, before turning to his friend.

"Uh, you remember Osami-San, don't you Hikari?" Toji replied, gesturing to his friend and causing both of them to blink.

"_This,"_ he said in utter amazement as he looked at the girl in the shear black dress in front of them, "is _"Hikari?_As in Hikari _Hokori_?_"_Osami demanded.

His unbelieving tone earned him a rather cute (in Shinji's mind) blush in return from Hikari as he scrutinized her face. "_Damn,_ you've, um…changed!"

"Oh great, another stooge," Asuka joined her best friend with a roguish roll of her eyes, clearly having overheard the conversation and deciding to come to her friends aid. "So, you're _breeding_ now?"

"Yeah, we reproduce like amoebas," Toji deadpanned, earning him a snicker from Kensuke and Shinji.

"And have the intelligence of one," Asuka replied sweetly, not giving ground for a second.

"Peace," Hikari cautioned. "Let's just try and have fun, okay?"

"We are!" Toji and Asuka simultaneously protested, then blinked and looked at the other in clear confusion, before almost unconsciously taking a step backwards away from each other, identical looks of suspicion on each others faces that damn near made Shinji burst out laughing.

"And on that note," Kensukesmiled as Rei glided in looking prim, proper, and gorgeous as always. "Chow!" he declared, offering her his arm which she took, smiling faintly as they headed inside.

"Good idea," Hikari beamed, holding out her arm to Toji, who abandoned his confrontation with Asuka willingly with a final trade of smirks before moving over to join the slowly thinning group at the door that were heading upstairs.

"Did you have any idea Misato was responsible for getting the dance put back on?" Asuka demanded without pre-amble when they were alone.

"No, I had no idea," Shinji replied with absolute honest.

Asuka studied him for a few seconds and thennodded.

"Well…we'll have to find some way to thank her," Asuka muttered, exchanging a smile with a girl Shinji vaguely remembered was in another class as she dragged her date in, the boy stealing glances at Asuka until he noticed Shinji's glare at him and he promptly directed his attention elsewhere, before turning back to Asuka.

Asuka who had seen and actually felt, _slightly_, touched by Shinji's defensive reaction on her behalf –not that she _needed _anyone to look after her- just smiled and took his wrist.

"Well come on, we're going to be the last ones in," she sighed, walking up to the door and leading him in then up the dim stairs to the top…

The dance room was dimly, but adequately lit by a series of windows behind the stairs that looked out over the street, currently framing a stunning view down over Lake Ashi as the sun set on the horizon. There was a large open area –clearly the dance floor- directly in _front_of the stairs, with a stage against the fall wall closed off with curtains, a smaller 'DJ-Stage' set up in front of it, with a rather…'ghetto' looking DJ finishing his setup.

An upper area ran in a horseshoe fashion from either side of the stage, down the walls and around behind the stairs, elevated from the dance floor with a railing separating the two areas and filled with dozens of large tables, already quickly filling up. A small number of rather formally dressed men with lists were directing people at the top of the stairs and Asuka strode up to the nearest.

"Names?" he asked politely.

"Asuka Langley Soryu," she supplied carefully and slowly, clearly surprised –or annoyed- that he hadn't known who she was at first glance.

"And you are Shinji Ikari?" the man asked after quickly consulting with his list.

"Yes," Shinji said with a polite nod.

The man bowed with a great deal of grace. "You are seated at table nine," he informed them, gesturing to a nearby table which Shinji quickly spotted their friends sitting down at and Shinji smiled slightly, clearly Hikari had taken steps when planning the seating with her other class reps. "And if there is anything you need tonight, do not hesitate for a second to ask for it."

"How about some dance music?" Asuka didn't _quite_ demand, holding firm in place as Shinij started to step away.

The man simply smiled, pulling a tiny radio from a pocket and giving a brief order.

At the far end of the huge room, Shinji saw the DJ act and suddenly some generic J-Pop song started blasting through he speakers.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Tokyo-3 Moonlight Lounge, let's blast off the night with some classic Hamassaki. Come out on the dance floor and lets get this started, don't be shy!" the DJ called, his voice amplified over the PA system.

"Thank you," Asuka smiled happily at the staff member before turning back to Shinji.

"No, way," he said flatly.

"Baka, it's a _dance_" she pointed out in an irritated voice. "It's what we came here to do!"

"Yes but no-one else is out there," he pointed out in a rather pathetic voice, knowing the eyes of almost two hundred fellow students would lock onto them as Asuka dragged him out there, knowing in such a situation he would screw up horribly and embarrass Asuka so badly he would be _begging _for her to just kill him and get it over with later…

"You can pilot a Fifty meter tall weapon of mass destruction, fight against the greatest enemies mankind has ever seen in its history…but you're afraid to _dance_ with me?" Asuka asked in a tone that magically mixed amusement and exasperation into a whole new level of sarcasm.

"Look…I just don't want to embarrass you," he told her in a low, highly embarrassed tone, feeling the confident façade he had put forward to Asuka for weeks starting to crack.

Instead of just rolling her eyes and dragging him out anyway as he expected, Asuka _narrowed _her eyes and studied him before she lost focus, looking at apparently nothing much at all.

"You actually mean that don't you," she muttered, talking as much to herself as him, before she shifted her attention back to him, appearing to take a deep breath.

"Listen Shinji, I've invested a lot of time in teaching you to dance to something other then Mozart over the last couple of weeks. If you can't trust yourself, then trust _me_, you'll be fine."

"_Told you so,_" Kaji's voice smirked in his ear, Shinji pointedly ignoring him.

"Well," he took a breath and met her gaze helplessly, "Okay, let's do it".

Asuka grinned. _Now _she yanked him out, Shinji happy to see two or three other couples had formed on the floor happily bouncing and bobbing to the music, with more heading in, generally with one partner dragging the next with a great deal less enthusiasm, Asuka letting him go at the exact center of the lightshow being made of the dance floor, raising her arms above her head and starting to gyrate in a highly distracting way to almost every heterosexual male in the room between the ages of fourteen and fifteen.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Shinji crashed into his seat, his face flushed but feeling _alive _in a way he had rarely felt in his life, ever. After a few awkward minutes of feeling hundreds of pairs of eyes on his back, he had just gotten lost in the music and Asuka's movements, the NERV synchronization training stamped –twice- into him taking over and the two started to move to the music, then unconsciously to each other and just had _fun_. 

Finally, as more and more people overcame their reserve and moved onto the dance floor –or just moved in closer for a better look as Asuka's hips gyrated doing interesting things to her dress- they had finally called it a dance and with an exchange of friendly smiles, headed off in different directions, Asuka pounced on by a pack of girls and Shinji just slinking back to his chair and blushing at more then a few 'appreciative' comments from some female classmates as 'his moves'. Asuka herself had cocked an eyebrow as their final song had ended and commented a simple "Not bad Baka" before moving off, which Shinji took to mean that he hadn't utterly screwed up.

The boost to his confidence was...considerable.

"You looked like you were having fun with Asuka," Toji noted as Shinji crashed into his chair, the jock having just returned to the table himself after having just finished circling the room and chatting to friends and former students.

It wasn't _quite _an accusation from Toji.

"As I told you, Asuka really isn't that bad once you get past the daily beatings…in fact, I have to say both of you have been a lot more…civil to each other, the last week," Shinji pointed out, that nagging detail he had meant to talk to him about.

Especially in comparison to their screaming matches the 'First Time' around, where Asuka had never really gotten over Toji's 'change' on_ Over the Rainbow _or had the moderating influence of the Hikari-Toji factor…

"Uh yeah, about that," Toji muttered, looking rather embarrassed. "Look…um…we just came to an arrangement".

"_You_, made a deal with the Devil?" Shinji asked with mock horror.

"Oh shut up, it was for your benefit, sort of," Toji grumbled. "We came to an understanding. As we were seeing each other around Hikari a lot, we decided it would be best if we acted civil so we didn't upset her…and there you go…and well, we sort of stopped screaming at each other when she _wasn't_ there either, it was just easier, you know? To keep track of everything?"

"Well, if you and Hikari can fall in love," and Shinji tried not to smile as Toji's face instantly flushed and he looked away at _that _naked accusation, "then Asuka and I can at least be friends, can't we?"

"Well, I guess…" Toji conceded with a grunt, clearly eager to change the topic. "Say, where _are _the girls anyway?"

Shinji looked around and frowned. He couldn't' see them…

"_Hikari and Asuka both went into the ladies room a few minutes ago…and I am_not_ going to look,_" Kaji supplied as Toji muttered something about going to look and walked away.

"Where are you?" Shinji asked, keeping his voice low and moving his lips as little as possible, after Shinji managed to pick out two Section Two agents, but none of the others, nor Misato, nor Kaji…

"_Oh, around,_" Kaji vaguely supplied and Shinji could hear the grin. "_Great dancing by the way, I see you've been paying attention to Misato when she gets a little buzzed and starts running around the apartment._"

Shinji just rolled his eyes and got to his feet, locating the ladies room and starting to walk in that general direction, raising his hand over his mouth as if in deep thought as he continued to talk.

"So where _is _Misato?"

"_She's talking to a few of the parents and your teacher; I think the poor woman is being lectured on the Second Impact."_

Shinji felt a sudden wave of pity for Misato as he wandered around the room, nodding and smiling at various classmates. The dance floor had emptied a little, with the first wave of dancers taking a break and the timid staying away due to the lesser numbers of people to 'hide' in. There were perhaps twenty people on the huge floor, but the night was young, as Misato would say, the sky outside steadily darkening as a new song started, although it wasn't Japanese, he could at least recognize some of the words as German. Great beat though.

"Hey, Kensuke," Shinji waved as he saw his friend moving around, Kensuke turning and hurrying over.

"Hey Shinji…have you seen Rei?" he asked with a somewhat confused look on his face.

"Um, not since we were downstairs," Shinji admitted, frowning. "What happened?"

"Well, we were just walking around the room and talking to people and I turned around…and she was gone suddenly."

"Well she couldn't have gone far," Shinji tried to calm his rather worried looking friend down, knowing just how much of a hammering his friend's nerves had taken over the day. "She can't have gone far," he assured Kensuke, glancing around the immediate area and not seeing Rei, most of the people sitting at the tables watching the dance floor with increasing interest on their faces.

"She's probably found someone better to go and have fun with," Kensuke sighed. "It's probably for the best, I'll just circle the room and stay out of her way," he continued, with enough self pity to make even _Shinji _rolls his eyes.

_If I used to be like this all the time, its little wonder I drove Asuka nuts _he thought to himself.

"Look, she is _not _going to dump you, don't jump to conclusions like that just because she's walked off for a second. Asuka and Hikari are in the bathroom, Rei might be as well".

"_Nope,"_Kaji's voice, sounding highly amused came back in his ear.

"Well where is she?" he asked back.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you," Kensuke replied in a slightly confused voice.

"Uh, just thinking out loud," he apologized. "Come on, Rei stands out just a bit in a crowd, she must be around here somewhere…" he tried to cheer his friend up, getting at least a semi-enthusiastic response as he started looking around the crowd of people in the upper area, noting that more and more of them appeared to be turning their attention to the dance floor, with expressions of amazement on the faces of the girls and a familiar hormone driven expression on the faces of the guys…

Then it clicked. And slowly, he turned his gaze tothe dance floor.

"Kensuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Found Rei."

* * *

Asuka and Hikari had retired to the bathroom in a timed honored tradition that had forever confounded the male mind. It was a social event in of itself, separate yet intricate part of the larger events taking place outside and around it. 

Safe from the men's gaze, the women –including a female Section Two agent who sat like a fly on the wall- could communicate, plot or fight as needs be.

Asuka had quickly used the facilities before stepping in front of the huge wall of mirrors and painstakingly checking her dress, hair and makeup to ensure they all remained perfect, basking in the looks of envy more then a few girls inside shot her that she caught out of the corner of her eyes as Hikari leaned in closer, painstakingly checking her mascara to ensure it hadn't started to run.

"You're going to have to go out on the dance floor when you get back out," Asuka said in a matter of fact tone that made Hikari wince.

"I don't know," she muttered back. "I'm not anything like as good a dancer as you".

"Few people are," Asuka shrugged back without the slightest hint of self consciousness on her face at the statement, having earned the right to claim such a title in the bathroom with a payment of sweat on the dance floor several minutes ago. "But it's not a question of being good or bad Hikari, but about _enjoying _yourself."

Hikari accepted that in silence, her nerves still clearly a little tight, but was saved from replying as another girl stepped up to the mirror and took out some lipstick.

"So, miss Soryu, you and Shinji make a rather _cute_ couple," the girl said, instantly gaining Asuka's attention, though outside she kept her face perfectly calm as she adjusted her dress strap slightly.

"Oh Asuka, this is Natsuki," Hikari supplied the name, in a tone that was also a warning to her friend. "She evacuated after the Angels started attacking but she's moving back".

"Oh, hi," Asuka said with a smile that was as empty as a beer can fifteen seconds after Misato opened it. "Nice to meet you".

"And nice to meet you," the not unattractive girl replied with a slight nod, her attention still on her reflection. "So, how long have you and Shinji been together?"

"We're not 'together'," Asuka corrected her on reflex. "He's a friend".

"Really?" Natsuki commented, glancing at her for a second, before letting the slightest smile flicker on her face. "Too bad, you two looked quite good together."

The girls in the bathroom continued their activities, but their attention shifted rather suddenly to the conversation as Asuka smiled back, feeling a great deal of annoyance at the audacity of this girl…threatening to touch her stuff.

"We_are_ good together," Asuka replied with an all too sweet tone in her voice as she leaned away from the mirror but continued to study her reflection. "We both pilot Evangelions, working together to save the city you ran from and believe me, we are _very_good at it."

'_Ouch'_the collective looks on the other girls in the bathroom said.

Natsuki let her smile become slightly brittle.

"Oh I'm sure you've established quite a good working relationship with him," the former student dismissed Asuka's warning with a slight shrug. "I'm just thinking it might be nice to get away from all that NERV stuff once in a while and have some fun."

Even Hikari flinched at _that,_ Asuka clearly being dismissed as 'NERV stuff', if not directly enough to be called on it.

Many of the girls expected Asuka to grab Natsuki by the back of her head and ram her into the mirror in response, but Asuka just grinned somewhat impishly, leaning in closer as if to tell a secret.

"Oh we are having fun," she assured her. "I'll have to tell you about the shopping trip we went on where I modeled bikinis for him for a while, after he asked me to the dance."

_MINE_the girls translated Asuka's almost giggled confession, sounding to their ears like the bark of a particularly nasty dog at its competition, Natsuki actually flinching slightly away from Asuka like a puppy that realized it had pushed the 'big-bad' a _little_ too far.

"Well…um, I'm glad you're having fun then," she replied in as dignified a voice as she could, smiling slightly as she backed away. "Well….see you later."

"Bye," Asuka replied, not bothering to look at her as she backed away through the door, the gaggle of girls inside glancing at Asuka before starting to chat away again, all clearly thinking the same thing.

_What_ does_ Shinji Ikari mean to Asuka? She denied she was 'an item' with him, and then warned Natsuki__ away rather…pointedly._

Outside of Hikari, none of them guessed that Asuka was thinking much the same thing.

"Ready?" Asuka asked Hikari simply as she finished her inspection in the mirror.

"As I'll ever be," the still rather shy Class Rep sighed, clearly gathering her courage to go out onto the dance floor.

"That's the spirit," Asuka congratulated her, heading for the door and back out into the somewhat loud music with…_German_ vocals?

Cocking her head slightly, she listened and the song clicked. It was 'The Ding-Dong' song, one of Misato's favorites back when she had been back at the Third Branch…and she wouldn't put her guardian to have supplied the CD either.

She giggled slightly at the lyrics as the chorus came around, getting an odd look from Hikari as they walked towards the dance floor, giving thanks that as far as she knew, there were no German speakers among their year except her who knew what the words meant, spying the Three Stooges among the rather impressive crowd on the railing looking at the dance floor from the perimeter.

With a wicked look on her face, she easily moved up behind him with the noise of the music covering her tracks, easing into position next to his ear.

"Shinji," she whispered.

He jumped about a foot into the air and slammed back down to Asuka's delight, turning around from his place at the railing where he had been watching the dance floor to smile somewhat sheepishly at her.

"Ah. There you are."

"We had to go freshen up," Asuka explained, offering him a smile as she looked into his own smile, again feeling…she didn't know _what_for him...but again throwing aside those questions for another day, just wanting to have_fun_. "So, what is everyone standing around for? Let's dance!"

Shinji's smile twitched slightly and he gestured her forward. Confused, Asuka pushed in next to Shinji, several people making way for her…and felt her jaw drop slightly as she looked out at the dance floor.

Rei was dancing, with the two dozen other dancers on the floor having formed something of a ring around her as she moved her body in ways Asuka didn't think were _possible _for a human.

By herself...

In the middle of the dance floor...

'You touch my Tra-la-la…'

'La la la la la la la la la la la la la la…'

'Hmmm, my ding ding dong…'

_And hell, she can _dance!

* * *

Rei Ayanami didn't care about the fact that close to two hundred pairs of eyes were staring at her as she moved in a way most men in the western hemisphere would classify as 'interesting'. 

Nor did she care about any 'social protocols' which she had only something of a passing familiarity with.

She_did _like the music however.

She had spent the last several days studying examples of 'dancing', practicing based off research she had conducted with the same methodical and total concentration of her attention she applied to her school work or Eva piloting. Research over the internet had provided a wealth of material she had looked over…and gotten nowhere.

Pages of text just didn't help her _understand_.

The breakthrough had come when she had stopped listening to the songs she was practicing against and started to listen to the _music_. And it had clicked as she stood in her apartment, music blasting from her new stereo system. For hours, she simply become lost in the incredibly intricate symphony of vocals and instruments that wound together in a way Rei found somewhat profound, for lack of any other word to describe it. Expressing emotion was something Rei found difficult at the best of times. But dancing to the music just came naturally for her and she just moved with it.

In some ways her style might have been called almost mathematical. Or perhaps clinical.

But she _enjoyed it_ none the less.

So she stood in the middle of the dance floor, her eyes closed with an expression on face that might be described as a slight smile, moving her body as an expression of the music. Her hands, her head, her hips, her arms, all of her body moved in a whirlwind of motion that kept building until the song finally climaxed and she snapped to a halt with a final jerk of her head and her dress spinning around her legs, breathing deeply, but not truly hard as she opened her eyes.

A hundred people broke out into applause, cheers and more then a few wolf whistles as she stood there.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, MissRei Ayanami," the DJ announced, generating even more noise from the crowd.

Rei flushed, very slightly feeling somewhat embarrassed at becoming a spectacle, but the feeling quickly faded as she realized the crowd was simply signifying its approval and enjoyment of her performance, quite possibly the first time she had ever felt so…accepted, by such a large number of people.

It was intoxicatingly addictive.

As the applause slowed, she walked to the side of the dance floor, exchanging smiles and thanks from countless people as they rushed past her onto the dance floor, almost as if a dam had burst and suddenly _everyone _wanted to dance.

"Rei,_ where _did you learn to dance like that?" Asuka demanded as she reached the small group of people among the crowd, who were unique in as they were people she classified as friends. "Have you been sneaking out to _clubs_ over the last week or something?"

Rei cocked her head slightly in curiosity over the question. Truly, the possibility had never occurred to her.

"No. Should I have?"

"Not without inviting _me,_" Asuka grinned wickedly, before impulsively reaching over and embracing her. Rei blinked in surprise before slowly returning the gesture, feeling a strange comfort in the physical contact before Asuka let go, Kensuke easing forward and clearly in some kind of distress.

"My apologies for leaving you without informing you," Rei said with a slight bow at him, suddenly feeling a shiver of unease and even guilt over the fact that she had left him without warning, the siren call of the music all but taking over her body, finding herself on the dance floor almost without realizing it. "I…just wanted to go and dance for a while by myself."

Kensuke just continued to stare.

"Kensuke?" she asked, starting to feel a worry that she had somehow harmed him by leaving him without warning.

"You were fantastic!" he spluttered out, to a strange simultaneous roll of eyes from three of the four other people around him, only Hikari abstaining from the strange synchronized action.

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "Would you like to dance _with_ me?"

"Uh huh," he nodded.

"Then come," she said, extending a hand he took as she led him back out to the dance floor.

"His mind can't take much more of that," Shinji commented with a raised eyebrow as they vanished into the growing crowd on the floor.

"Uh huh," Asuka agreed. "Not that there was that much of one to begin with."

"Asuka," he sighed.

"Oh I'm just kidding," she laughed, turning to glance at him with a grin. "Think you can hold out another round with me, Baka?"

"Always," he smiled, again getting hopelessly lost in that face. Asuka held his gaze for a few seconds before turning to face Toji.

Toji stared back.

Asuka's smile intensified into something more akin to a glare and flickered to Hikari, who was studying the patterns on the carpet with great interest…and Toji finally got it.

"Um…Hikari…would you…um, like to-"

"Yes!" Hikari blurted out.

"Uh…cool," he said, trying –and failing miserably- to keep the 'too cool for school' look on his face before he took her hand gently and they headed out into the thickening crowd.

"I hope he wasn't going to say 'marry me'," Asuka sighed at the lack of polished class from her friend, as they vanished into the mass of crowds bounding to a fast paced dance track of some kind.

"I don't think it's much of a danger," Shinji assured her, before extending his hand and recalling some of the German Asuka had tried to teach him one boring weekend so long ago.

"Daf ich?"

Asuka smiled and took his hand.

"Bitte," she replied, firmly taking his hand and leading him out to the dance floor.

* * *

Several hours later, Shinji sighed in contentment as he continued to steal glances at Asuka next to him as they lounged about at their table. Misato had come over and told them they would be going in less then half an hour which was a bit of an annoyance to Shinji, who had never in either of his lives had _anything _like as much fun. Once the shock of Asuka's stunning beauty had worn off earlier in the evening and he had found –to his shock- that Asuka appeared to be working hard to make this night easy on him for some reason, he had simply tried to enjoy everything. 

And he wasn't the only one.

After their first dance, Hikari and Toji had rarely been off the dance floor until dinner had come up. Kensuke and Rei somewhat less so, but they were almost never apart from each other.

With Rei and Kensuke too busy to talk, he and Asuka had become the targets of mobs of people desperate to hear from NERV's Evangelion pilots about the war they fought. Shinji had lost count of the number of times people had congratulated him on his defeat of the 4th Angel and the creation of 'Nike-Ridge' as the imprint of Unit Ones feet on the Cliffside above Highway 16 had been dubbed by the locals. And Asuka of course countered with the story of the combat against the 6th Angel every time. The gasps when she –with only slight embellishments- described grappling the thing on _Over the Rainbow_ before sinking under the water, getting swallowed, ripping its mouth open and being flung a thousand feet into the air by a gigantic nuclear detonation had continually won her thunderous applause from groups of admires…and protests from Kaji as the number of progressive knife strikes she had managed to put in again Gaghiel rose from zero to fifteen by the end of her retellings.

The fact that he had been in the cockpit as well was mostly the punch line after she had landed, turning around to find he was snoring.

Shinji wasn't entirely sure if one _could_snore in LCL, but he just smiled and mockingly bowed in honor of her superior skill each time, finding the whole celebrity experience something of a novelty to enjoy with her.

Then they would go and dance together, though the sheer energy Asuka put into her efforts often left him calling a time out that earned in a playfully scornful look as she sighed and left the dance floor with him.

Now however, the dance floor was empty, light music circling through the room as the students finished off their dinners. Their table had been one of the first served –thank you Hikari- so they were mostly just waiting around watching the clock tick down…

"I hope we can get a final dance in," Shinji spoke up as he fiddled with a fork against an empty plate, Toji having 'liberated' the remains of his fries when he turned his head for a few seconds to gaze at Asuka's stunning profile yet again. He felt he had made a great deal of progress with her tonight, hoping that she had enjoyed it as much as he had…but he just felt something was still lacking. His impulsive 'Goddess' comment was sinking into history as every minute passed him by and he just couldn't think of any way to make an impact on her…

"_Right now Shinji, you're thinking 'how do I end this night' aren't you? Just tap the fork twice if you agree," _Kaji's voice came from nowhere, almost making him jump. His 'shadow' had vanished for an hour or so without a word even when he had tried to talk to him but he was back.

Shinji tapped the fork against the table. Twice.

"_In exactly twenty seconds, turn to Asuka and ask if you can have this final dance and you'll be set. Oh, try not to screw this up, it's probably the most single important thing you'll do tonight. Have fun!"_

Shinji made a mental note to hit Kaji in the face the next time he saw him for returning every one of his nervous emotions to life, with interest on where they had been waiting for Asuka in front of Rei's place.

He sat and went over the line several times as he counted agonizingly second after second, took a deep breath and stood, turning to face her questioning look.

"Asuka…may I have this final dance?" he got out in a surprisingly smooth voice, holding out a hand, part of him noticing that there was no music as yet and cursing himself for jumping the gun, but not daring to sit down.

Asuka opened her mouth, probably to point out that there wasn't any music, when the speakers started up again and a soft slow drum beat started to play.

Her expression became somewhat amused, but as she sat there and listened it softened quickly, before she looked back at him with an unfamothable expression, before getting to her feet without a word and accepting his hand.

They got a moderate amount of attention as they walked through the tables, but when they stepped out onto the dance floor as a series of synthesized strings started up; Shinji felt every eye in the room tracking him as they walked to the center.

Asuka turned to face him and Shinji started to move to take her left hand with his right, but she pre-empted him by carefully, almost delicately wrapping her hands around his neck, forcing him to swallow slightly and place his hands ever so lightly on her hips.

"You asked me to dance, so _hold me,_" she said in an odd tone that caused him to flash back at once to a memory from her mind as the 16th Angel destroyed it…

("Why are you there?!")-

("You won't do anything! You won't help me!")-

("You won't even _hold__me_!")-

_No…not this time _he decided…and throwing aside his nerves, he gently, but firmly, pulled her closer, getting a surprised but pleased look as she cocked her head, then smiled as the vocals started.

They were in English so Shinji didn't have a clue, but Asuka clearly approved…and as they started to sway around the floor slowly, utterly unconcerned about what anyone else might think as Asuka lay her head on his shoulder, her eyes open as she once again enjoyed the warmth of his body against hers, letting the words of the song wash over her…

'I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight …'

'I've never seen you shine so bright... …'

* * *

Fifteen meters above them in the catwalks, manipulating events from the Shadows as he always did, Kaji grinned as he watched the two dancing. He knew Asuka well enough to see that the absurdly formidable walls around her heart were starting to waver as she danced with Shinji alone under the spotlights under the catwalk. He had picked this song with much care, finding it so excruciatingly perfect that he suspected some kind of karma had been at work when the DJ had let him flip through his CD collection earlier in the night. 

The fact that Asuka was one of the few people in the room who would understood the words, was just a bonus.

'I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance'

'Looking for a little romance, given half a chance…'

Lifting his radio to his mouth, he gave his final instructions for the night to the Third Child, finding this to be the most entertainment he had had for a _very _long time…and the utterly least possible thing he could do to try and help Shinji find some enjoyment, in a life which could at best be described, on a good day, as 'FUBAR'.

"Just dance it out, hold her, don't say anything unless she does, I'm outta here, have a nice night," he signed off, killing the radio and starting to stand up from the railing he had been leaning against-

"_You,"_a familiar female voice accused from behind him. Long practice let him keep calm and not jump over the railing on top of the Second and Third Children. Turning around, he found Misato looking as appealing as she had ever looked, the dress hugging her rather impressive figure and her hair swirling most enticingly down her hair.

But after Shinji had detailed the heroic actions that had led to her bleeding to death, exchanging her life for his as the JSSDF hunted him down; it had become an excruciating exercise to hold his sarcastic, sloppy façade in place every time he looked at her.

It gave him some small insight into the steel that must be in Shinji's spine, if he was able to _live_with both Misato and Asuka. If he was able to find the strength to face them one day at a time and just take one more step forward…

"Well I have to admit I'm impressed you managed to track me down," he smirked as he stepped out, casually slipping the radio into his pocket without her seeing it-

"It was _you _all along," Misato repeated, crossing her arms in front of him and not _quite _glaring, but definitely holding him with an intense stare as she slowly shook her head with a look of disbelief on her face.

'I have never seen that dress you're wearing'

'Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes…'

'I have been blind…'

"That scene at the shopping center, where Asuka asked _Shinji_to the dance…" Misato said, slowly walking towards him. "Some of his, how shall we say, actions tonight…with Asuka," Misato continued, glancing down at the blissfully happy children rotating slowly and feeling her anger reduce, despite himself at the fact that regardless of how they were brought together, they were clearly at least having fun.

'Lady in Red…is dancing with me…'

She made another mental note to thank Asuka for easing up on the War on Shinji for the night, and then turned her glare back on Kaji at full force.

Although he maintained his slightly smug expression, Kaji knew from long experience that _that _look was a rather serious one. And he knew perfectly well that Misato was willing to kill to protect Shinji.

This meant he probably had ten seconds to explain why she shouldn't put a bullet in his kneecap.

"I didn't _do _anything more then help Shinji be confident enough to stand up to Asuka," he replied, letting the smug tone drop.

"Go on," Misato ordered after a slight pause, giving him a look that suggested she was listening, but he was on _very_ thin ice.

"I'm sure you know that Shinji wanted to ask Asuka out the second he met her on _Over the Rainbow_," he started without preamble, getting a nod that was cool, but edged with the faintest curiosity.

Kaji took the opening and dropped his tone into utter seriousness.

"Then you know that despite how much Asuka may love to flaunt herself off as the desire of any man, she is desperately afraid of letting anyone get close to her. You also know just how similar she and Shinji are to each other, what they both went through as kids and how quickly they've been forced to grow up."

Misato just continued to stare at him with a level expression, but she did not look away and he could tell he was getting through to her, as much as she might not _want _him to make sense. Taking a step towards her, he held her gaze and refused to flinch away, recognizing her anger was little more then a mask for her concern over his intentions with 'her' kids.

"Shinji came to _me _for help to get through to Asuka. I didn't talk to her; I didn't tell him _anything _about her, or her history, I care about her too much to betray her confidence, even for Shinji. I agreed to help him because frankly, they might just be able to find something worthwhile out of this whole insanity of using kids as Eva pilots."

Misato just stared at him for a good thirty seconds as the dance continued below, seeking something that she apparently found as her face softened slightly and she shook her head, almost in disbelief.

"Whatever happened to the Ryoji Kaji whose idea of 'responsibility' was skipping a week of lectures to fool around with his new girlfriend from dawn to dusk?"

"Ask yourself what happened to the girl who was just as eager to fool around with him back then and you'll have your answer," he replied, giving her a slight nod before heading for the door, noting with a bit of amusement the look of stunned surprise that came across her face with his utter lack of an attempt to grab her and kiss her into submission she expected.

"What. That's it? No complements? No flirting? No annoying coming onto me?"

Misato sounded strangely both pleased and upset, causing him to stop and glance half over his shoulder with a slight smile on his face.

"Not today Misato…if both of us are still alive after the Angels stop coming, give me a call," he said, keeping the look on his face until the door was shut behind him, granting himself all of five seconds to let his face fall to a bleak depression as he leaned against the wall, suddenly feeling _old_.

God he loved that woman.

But all it took to get him walking back down the stairs with straightened shoulders was the memory of Shinji's testimony, when he reached the bit about how both of them had _finally_ gotten back together, then him dying a matter of days later and utterly destroying her.

Well that his new, modified roadmap to starting over with her.

Step one, defeat the Angels.

Step two, Kill Keel.

Step three, Kill Gendo.

_After_ their confessions of course.

And step four, get a bunch of flowers and start to try and make up for years of screwing around the love of his life.

* * *

Not that far away, the Second and Third Children were oblivious to the thoughts running through Kaji's mind as he entertained himself with recall the various methods of executing war criminals the UN still sanctioned, or Misato's mind as she wondered who the hell _that_ man was and where Ryoji Kaji had gone. _Their _concerns were entirely 'local' to an area only a few meters in radius. 

Asuka had long since placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Only the fact that she still kept a solid grip on his shoulders and moved her legs in perfect time with the music let him know she was awake and aware, Asuka apparently perfectly happy to just listen and dance.

Shinji also quietly reflected that _holding_ Asuka like this, her perfect scent overwhelming him also wasn't exactly a _bad _way to end this school dance for him. He had no idea what the song was about, guessing it was _some _kind of love song, but while Asuka spoke fluent English, she wasn't sharing with him and he was disinclined to break the mood by asking for a running commentary.

"Shinji…" she asked softly into his ear, causing him to shiver. From the sensation or from sudden stress, he didn't quite know.

"Asuka," he replied, not daring to say anything else. Since Kaji had left him, he suddenly felt like he was on a tightrope, walking across one of NERV's many bottomless shafts in Central Dogma, without a net.

"What…" she asked slowly, "do I mean to you?"

'_Oh…_fuck' was the first thought that came to his mind. To say _that _was a loaded question was a _bit _of an understatement.

But Kaji's advice came back.

Speak from the heart.

_And don't say the L word, DON'T say the L word!_

"You mean…a great deal to me," he admitted softly into her ear, forcing himself _not_swallow, _not_shake and _not_fall to the ground whimpering. "I think of you as a close friend".

"_How_ close?" she asked, her head shifting off his shoulder to move in front of him, her eyes looking into his. Not in hostility, but with a definite tension behind them that let him know that regardless of what he had just thought, lying to her would be the biggest mistake of his lives right now…even as he knew that if he said "because I love you", she would think it utterly insincere and slam her walls up higher then she had ever built them.

"If it had been anyone but you who asked me to this dance, I would have turned them down" he told her, holding her gaze levelly. "I just…I just don't think _any_of the students in our year could understand what I've, what _we've_ been through."

He paused for a nanosecond, debating bringing up Rei before deciding that he had to clarify the statement before Asuka drew her own conclusions about their 'relationship'.

"Well except Rei," he amended his statement quickly, "but she is much more like, well, a Sister I never knew I had. I don't _feel_for her in the same way I feel around you."

The air was becoming dangerously charged between them as Asuka narrowed her eyes. Not in _hostility _so much,but as if she was trying to see through him; he felt like he had been placed under a gigantic microscope.

"And how," she asked quietly, "do _I_ make you feel?"

"Alive," he answered in just as quiet a tone with utterly sincerity, congratulating himself on finding a word that supplied an idea of how he felt that didn't sound corny or insincere, before he broke the visual standoff and glanced away, feeling his face flush with a surge of emotions, continuing to dance, but feeling like he was dancing on egg shells.

Asuka continued to stare at him for a few seconds as he managed to bring his face back around, studying him before she nodded slightly and leaned forward again, once again placing her head on his shoulder…and perhaps even tightening her grip slightly as she sighed and muttered "good" into his ear.

* * *

Asuka…let down her walls. 

It was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. For most of a decade, she had built them as high and as thick as she possibly could, trying desperately to keep everyone out…or herself in, she just didn't know.

But for the next two minutes and fifteen seconds of the song, she just relaxed into Shinji's arms and closed her eyes, secure in his grip that he would _not _let her fall or try to do anything to her.

And not because he _feared _her or because he would need to _work_with her later, or _live_with her…

But because he respected her.

She didn't kid herself that they really had any chance of a real relationship in the long term, or that they even really _had _anything now, beyond the shared pain of a childhood both would rather forget and a fifty meter tall burden they had to carry, because no-one else could.

But for the next few minutes…she could at least _pretend _they did.

And so just listened, and danced.

'Lady in red is dancing with me...cheek to cheek'

'There's nobody here'

'It's just you and me'

'It's where I wanna be'

'And I hardly know'

'This beauty by my side'

'I'll never forget the way you look tonight'

Finally, the song ended and she returned to reality, slowly letting go and feeling a similar sort of reluctance from Shinji, both of them blinking slightly as they looked around and found several dozen other couples had appeared on the dance floor and continued to dance, another slow dance from Japan this time, started up.

"Let's go home," she said simply, offering him her hand, again something that may or may not last beyond the night…but while the rules were suspended…

He accepted it and they headed off the floor, Asuka noting with a flicker of her ego which she had chained to the floor, that almost every person in the room was looking at _them_ with expressions from envy to heartbroken, with the exceptions of the relatively few dozen people on the dance floor, who might have just found some kind of happiness.

Asuka wished them luck, as she reunited with the quartet and Misato…and the six Section Two agents who just appeared from nowhere again, heading out to the Limo and home.

* * *

Shinji yawned as he stepped out of the bathroom, noting that the clock was nearing midnight and giving thanks that Tommorow was _not _a school day as he headed out into the corridor, making for his room. 

He and Asuka hadn't said a word to each other outside of 'housekeeping' such as organizing the showers and their collective farewells to their friends on the way home, the Limo taking a circular route around Tokyo-3 to drop them off one by one. To his delight, Toji and Hikari had said little the whole trip, Toji just keeping and arm wrapped around a slightly tired Hikari as she leaned into his chest…a pose reversed and mirrored with a slightly amused looking Rei holding her date, Kensuke finally looking like his brain had just shut down from the overload, though he did manage to stumble in his front door with a wave back and a chaste kiss on the cheek from Rei.

Rei had of course been the last to be dropped home, sliding out of the limo and heading inside with a slight smile on her face the whole way that gave Shinji enormous hope that he might have just shoved an Eva sized stop sign in the way of his Father and SEELE, while Misato, had actually said goodnight to Kaji as he opened her door in a tone with rather little in the way of spite or flirting on either side that had rather confused him.

But Asuka…

Putting it out of his mind, he turned to head for his room…and there was Asuka, studying him in a rather simple T-Shirt and shorts that did rather little to detract from her beauty in his mind.

"So. That was a fun night," she offered him, Shinji trying not to sigh at the fact that her walls had clearly gone back up…though he was heartened by the fact that he didn't think they were nearly as high as they had been even this morning.

"I'm glad you asked me to go," he said in complete honesty.

"Of course you are," she rolled her eyes, albeit with a twitch of a smile on her face, levering off the wall and strolling towards him slowly, before she let the grin fall back off to a more…serious expression, Shinji not daring to move, that 'deer in headlights' situation that so often occurred with him around Asuka once again seizing his limbs as she closed and stopped.

"Did you mean it?" she asked simply, her vibrant eyes again making him feel like he was under a microscope. "Or was it just something you said in the heat of a slow dance. I'm not going to get angry or-"

"I meant every word I said," he replied without waiting for her to finish her defensive proclamation.

Asuka studied him, then let a slight smile come onto her face as she leaned in quickly…and kissed him softly.

On his cheek.

"Thanks for the night Baka," she sighed into his ear with a smirk in her tone, stepping around him to her bedroom.

"Bitte schön," he replied a few seconds later to her back.

She stopped, but didn't turn, Shinji catching a tiny part of the tight smile on her face as she shut the door behind her, before he headed into his room and flopped onto his bed, savoring that single, chaste kiss on his cheek, feeling it throb for many, many hours before he finally fell to sleep.

Asuka on the other hand, for the first time on a Futon, fell to sleep at once, into a sleep once again devoid of any of the specters that had haunted her so many times.

* * *

Suck up the WAFF while it's here, cause after next chapter, things start to happen :)

Not that I plan on killing everyone next chapter or something. But as Winston Churchill would say, 'This is not the beginning of the end but rather, the end of the beginning!'


	16. It's Always the Quiet Ones

Authors notes, apology and several other things come at the bottom.  
You'll understand why when you get there.  
Double apologies for the double post as well, the damn software keeping deleting all my HR tags damn it...

* * *

The events that led to Shinji Ikari, Asuka Langley Soryu and Rei Ayanami standing in the office of the Vice Commander would become the 'water cooler' topic of choice for the next several weeks. Indeed, the story would spread via Email and conference calls as far as Germany where various personnel who remembered the Second Child fondly - thanks to time and distance having blunted memories of just what putting up with Asuka _really _meant - would share a laugh and raise a coffee mug in salute at the audacity of the trio of children who stood as the defenders of humanity against the Angels.

Yet while countless people would laugh at some point in the future, the trio at the center of the situation did not feel like it as they stood under the glare of the Operations Planning Manager, Director of Technical Division One and Vice Commander of NERV Central.

_It could be worse_, Shinji reflected as he continued to direct his gaze at the rear of the room, carefully avoiding making eye contact with any of the senior NERV personnel as he gave thanks for small favors. Case in point, the fact that they were not assembled in the office down the hall an order of magnitude larger then this one could only be a 'win'...not that it meant the three Evangelion pilots werehere for a friendly chit chat over moderately priced cocktails either.

"Whose idea was it?" Kozo Fuyutsuki finally spoke after a good thirty seconds of absolute silence that caused the Second and Third Children to jump slightly, while the First maintained her typically detached demeanor, simply standing there in typical silence as no one had –directly- asked her a question. Nor did she give away any responses with her face or body; as always she might as well have been a _statue_ of Rei rather then Rei herself.

Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu on the other hand...

"Mine," they both spluttered finally, three seconds after his question in an amusing synchronization before they turned to glare at each other. "It was _not_!"

"Spare me," Fuyutsuki said in a somewhat weary voice that shut them both up as he started to regret not fighting to have Gendo come in on this when he claimed he had other engagements.

Then again, knowing how Ikari would have handled this…

"As I'm sure you are both _gleefully_ aware, NERV can hardly fire you or inflict terrible retribution lightly given your rather unique status and enormous value to this organization. By the same logic however, NERV cannot and _will_ _not_ stand by as you risk your lives for cheap thrills," the Vice Commander explained slowly, hitting each child in turn with a muted, but very direct glare. "For what it's worth, I'm ordering you _not _to try anything as stupid as this again. I'm also informing you that should you should _ignore_ said order; we will takesteps take to make sure you _cannot _do so again. We can build new tanks, new aircraft, and new N2 warheads. We can even build new Evangelion units with enough money; but we _cannot_ 'build' new pilots. It would be an amusing - if pointless - end for humanity if an Angel showed up and we couldn't sortie an Evangelion because you three were crippled or dead, don't you think?" he asked, making little effort to keep the ironic tone out of his voice.

None of the children answered his rhetorical question. Rei stared, Asuka fidgeted and Shinji looked a trifle embarrassed, but no-one _questioned_ him…which was good enough for now.

"Well then," he sighed as he leaned forward. "I don't think anything more needs to be said at this moment, but do not think this discussion is even _close _to over. You are all dismissed."

The three adults waited as the children made haste for the door, exited into the reception area, then shut it behind them.

_Then _they let the rather severe expressions on their faces fall into nervous amusement for Misato, wry humor for Fuyutsuki and exasperated tolerance for Akagi.

"Well, at least they're still working as a team," Misato put in diplomatically, clearly trying not to smile _too _much. Fuyutsuki could appreciate that, after the shock had worn off from watching the MAGI's compiled security footage, it had been all _he _could do to keep a straight face as he dressed the kids down. He hadn't _always_ been a sixty year old bureaucrat, despite the rumors to that effect he knew circulated among the lower ranked staffers…

"Getting into trouble were not precisely the team building exercises we had in mind Captain," he sighed, before letting a wry smile push onto his face. "Though I have to admit, their skill levels were…impressive".

"There are other areas we can direct their energy into that are far more useful," Ritsuko joined the conversation, with little trace of anything resembling humor in her voice, an unfortunate result of the increasingly long shifts she was pulling on this or that special project for Ikari. "If they want to use this spare time for team building, we _do_ have several million dollars worth of training simulators for them to 'play' with that would actually have a direct effect on their abilities."

"Oh yes, after weeks of team co-ordination training day in and day out, I'm sure they'll be deliriously happy to go back to doing _that _all day" Misato snorted. "God forbid if they actually act their _age _for once in their lives-"

"Neither we _nor_ they have the luxury of a normal childhood," Akagi retorted firmly, turning away from the Vice Commander to glance out the Geofront as the setting sun slowly turned the interior of the vast cavern golden, before she turned back. "As much as we might pretend that they are ordinary kids, they are _not _and we can't simply-"

"Enough," Fuyutsuki warned before they could start _this_ argument again, having heard it God only knows how many times since the team training had begun. Katsuragi and Akagi were forever clashing over the lives of the Children and how best to 'develop' them now that the Angels were back. Not that surprisingly, Akagi was continually harassing him towards the 'cover them in bubble wrap and lock them deep inside the Geofront' school of thought, as much as Katsuragi pushed for them to have the closest possible thing to a normal life…and the damned annoying thing was that, like most dilemmas, both viewpoints were valid.

On one hand, as he had just pointed out to the Children, they were _utterly_ irreplaceable –well except Rei, at least to a point. Still, one stupid accident outside, crossing the street without looking, a lighting bolt during a storm; all those millions of statistically unlikely but very real possibilities that could eliminate a third or more of NERV's strength in an instant; all of it argued for sheltering and protecting them.

But on the _other_ hand, they were talking about _pilots_, not mere _components_ that they could shelve in a warehouse somewhere until needed, especially given the direct link between the children's ability to use Evangelions and their mental state. The negative effects that might result in terms of synchronization ratio and morale loss from 'protecting' them in such a harsh way were just too risky to be a viable option…especially as Shinji Ikari had made it rather clear from the get-go he would only pilot the Evangelion on _his _terms.

And so that left NERV in the awkward position of offering the pilots the illusion of a normal life. And an illusion it was as despite appearances; they kept both Shinji and Asuka on _very _short leashes. Their guardian worked for NERV and their school _crawled_ with NERV agents. Whenever they stepped out of either their house or school, they were followed by a cloud of invisible Section Two agents as a matter of course, and when inside NERV Central, the MAGI system tracked their location in real-time.

The one location they would be perfectly safe as, of course, the MAGI never made mistakes.

The Vice Commander admitted to himself he had taken a somewhat Luddite delight in the fact that it had failed so miserably to predict their actions today, showing the damn things were not foolproof no matter _what_ Akagi insisted, a fact that had left her rather red faced at the security breach.

"For the moment, I think we've made our point well enough to them, we can always take more direct action if they don't get the message," he finally decided, signaling the end of the discussion. "Given that they were forced to stay behind as their entire class went on a vacation from a war _they _have to fight, it's hardly a crime to give them a little latitude…so long as they understand it _does _have defined limits, I take it I can leave making _that_ point in your hands, Captain?" The officer across from him nodded and he adjusted his position slightly, sitting up straighter. "In the meantime, I think we all have work to do," he said in a tone that ended the conversation, glancing back at both of them with an expression of finality on his face. "Dismissed."

The two women came to something like attention, before turning to leave the room in silence, a silence which lasted until the elevator doors outside shut, and-

"They're both dead, aren't they?" Akagi asked, placing her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat as she leaned against the elevator wall, looking across at her friend with a curious expression, wondering what response she would get.

In fact, she didn't really get much of _any_ response, Misato simply grunting while continuing to glare at the lift doors.

It took her another three levels of descent before it finally clicked that Misato wasn't just majorly pissed off because she was _mad_, but she was _majorly pissed off _because the kids had almost given her a _heart_ _attack_.

The distinction between the two was somewhat subtle, but she knew her friend well enough to sense that her anger at the kids wasn't because they had done something stupid, but because they could have easily gotten hurt…and that terrified Misato on a level quite beyond that of a superior officer to her subordinates.

_Is it because they were…family?_

Now _she _frowned at the odd spike of emotion. Could she be actually feeling the slightest twinge of _jealously _at Misato, for having a real family to worry about? That for all its dysfunctional glory, the pair of people living in her apartment had grounded Misato so directly, some days she even wondered who the Captain was and where her old free-wheeling friend had gone, watching in amusement as Misato fretted about this or that new crisis that had sprung up…

And on _that _note, she came back to her senses with an amused snort. Jealous of _Misato? _Thewonder-parent?

_No way in _hell_. Living with _thosetwo_ is taking at least a year off her life expectancy for every _month_ they stay with her._

"Planned their punishment already?" she instead asked into the silence as they descended down under the Geofront 'ground' floor into Central-Dogma proper, turning slightly to appraise the Captain. "You must surely have some…'creative' ideas, shall we say?"

"Oh yes," Misato responded, this time with a slightly gleeful look on her face.

_Now _Akagi raised a slightly worried looking eyebrow as she regarded her friend carefully, not exactly liking _that_ look on her face.

"You're…not going to cook for them are you?" she asked, which instantly earned _her _a look-

"Just because _you_ have no sense of taste-"

"Because _my_ taste buds were burned off the last time I had your Raman mix-"

"-is no reason to make fun of those who can cook," Misato snorted before the expression on her face again turned somewhat gleeful and her voice became somewhat happier. "Besides, I have a far more 'ironic' punishment in mind for _those_ two idiots."

"Just make sure you don't take it _too _far," Ritsuko warned her pointedly as the lift counter behind them stopped ticking its way down and the doors opened, the two exiting into the sterile white corridor labyrinth that was Central Dogma. "A pointed example might be necessary, but be careful. The last thing we need is Shinji deciding to leave in an annoyed huff after all." Pausing at a room distinguishable from the hundreds of others in this part of the base only by virtue of its size, she ran her card through the reader and stepped inside her office.

Of course it wasn't really her 'real' office, she did most of her critical work down in a smaller area sandwiched between the EVA cages and Pribnow Box where only the most determined underling could track her down and dare to interrupt her, but this was her 'official' office…and unmistakably _hers_, if the number of cats covering every surface was an indicator, at any rate.

"I don't think there is any real risk of that anymore," Misato as she flopped onto the couch along one wall, noting in annoyance that Ritsuko's office was as uncluttered as ever compared to the piles of paperwork that she swore doubled in size every time she stepped outside of _her _office. "Shinji has really settled down into his life here. You know, as crazy as it sounds, when Asuka decided to stay moved in with us and not move out when the training was over, he seemed to really be, well, _happy_ about it. And then although she'd probably deny it, I could swear that _she _was happy as well. Frankly, given how often those two start _fighting_, I expected Asuka would bolt the first chance she got, Shinji carrying her bags for her…but for all their sparring, they really appear to actually enjoy living together now…well, most of the time."

"Well, they're both only children," Ritsuko shrugged as she sat down at her desk and flipped on her glasses, skimming expertly through the deluge of emails that had arrived since she had last been in her office, acknowledging most with a perfunctionary reply and highlighting a couple from Maya for a more detailed response later. As the worldwide head of Project-E and senior liaison to just about _every_ _other single project_ NERV ran, she was flooded on a daily basis with updates, questions and pleas for help that would have bogged her down if she didn't just delete most of it.

"Living with someone as _charming_ as Asuka would have to be a fascinating experience for him," Akagi hypothesized, before glancing over at Misato with a tight grin. "And of course, if either one moved out, they would forsake the pleasure of _your _company, which has to be a _remarkable_ experience all of its own-"

"Now you're sounding like Kaji," Misato shot back. "Still…I have to admit since that dance they've been much more comfortable around each other. Much less in the way of snarling… no, that's not entirely true," she corrected herself, frowning as she tried to put her finger on the subtle change of mood in her house. "They still score points off each other all the time but there's _way _less hostility in it, especially from Asuka…it's like they're playing some kind of strange game with a scoreboard I can't work out, no matter how hard I try."

"Relationships –of any kind- are not necessarily logical," Ritsuko sighed as she worked to finish up a brief email to the head of the 1st Branch team working on backwards engineering the S2 engine technology. "For further study, I would direct you to the case study of Katsuragi and Kaji-"

"Oh shut _up_ already," Misato groaned as she stood. "If I wanted to sit around and have points scored off me, I'd go find Asuka and challenge her to one of her video games. And at any rate, _I_ have to go and pack."

"Oh that's right; you're off to Mount Asama?" Ritsuko recalled belatedly, her interest perking up. She had been far too busy to do much more then skim the emailed briefs about the mission, but UN regulations said even the possibility of an Angel being around had to be checked out carefully, no matter how low the probability, and so poor Misato was off on a wild goose chase…

"Yup," Misato nodded, before she suddenly remembered something herself. "Oh, I'm taking Huyga with me by the way".

"The odds are that this is all just nothing," Akagi frowned, abandoning her keyboard and leaning back with a suppressed yawn as she stretched. "You could just send someone else, and is it _really_ worth tying up Hyuga as well as you?"

"The Commander ordered _me _to go," Misato grumbled, _not_ appreciating having to drop everything on the spur of the moment, fly in a cramped VTOL for an hour to what would almost certainly turn out to be a wasted trip, then head back early tomorrow morning, if the hastily drawn up schedule was accurate, looking to get perhaps a few hours sleep before work. "Apparently, he thinks its worth looking into officially, even if it's probably nothing. Hell, he even arranged for a link to the MAGI for post data processing, which should mean we can get results back almost instantly."

_Meaning Gendo and Keel have something in the Dead Sea Scrolls that matches up with this _Ritsuko thought to herself, feeling a sudden stab of anxiety as what she had presumed to be a wild goose chase suddenly became something _very_ different. There was no way Gendo would open up the MAGI for external processing from a third party unless he was _very_ sure of himself. No matter what NERV might say publicly, _none_ of the MAGI were ever opened up to external systems lightly…and she felt a little miffed they had left her out of the loop.

Of course, if she _challenged_ Gendo on it, he would just claim it was a routine investigation of seismic readings with a five percent probability rating; that she had far too much on her plate to be brought in on something that would likely turn out to be a wild goose chase.

It was yet another indicator that there _was _a far more detailed version of the Dead Sea Scrolls then the 'complete' version she had been shown…but she knew such a version, if it existed, was very carefully protected. And for all her hacking expertise, she didn't have the first clue how to break into Gendo's armor grade safe.

So she would continue to dance this little dance with the Commander. She would humor him as he tried in his own futile way to keep his last few secrets from her, accepting the implied challenge to prove herself worthy of him.

It was so much more _fun_ to work it out without him knowing, anyway-

_But…Misato is going up to investigate._

And if this _was _an Angel, and Misato went poking around without Evangelions to back her up…and if she woke the apparently sleeping giant in the process…

"Misato!" she called on a sudden impulse as her friend reached the door.

"Yeah?"

"…be careful, okay?" she rather lamely replied as her common sense reasserted itself and stopped her from saying anything stupid to her friend as she prepared to head out on a mission that was far more dangerous then she understood.

"Always am," she cheerfully replied with a smile. "_Relax_, this'll be a cakewalk, I'll be back tomorrow and we'll go out and hit the bars!"

"Sure," she smiled back, holding her rather fake smile on her face as yet again she kept her secrets, wondering if she would be able to live with herself if all this secrecy ended up costing Misato her life.

_Of course you'll live with it_ she told herself, a rare feeling of bitterness fighting its way up past the apathy she had long ago smothered her conscience with. _Just like you have lived with everything else you've done, in the faint hope each part of your soul that died would be the very last bit you would ever have to sacrifice…for _him_…_

Closing her eyes, she sighed very slowly, feeling far older then her thirty years for a few minutes before she squared her shoulders and with a casual motion, lit up a cigarette as she killed her email client and started to pull up the schematics for the D-Type Extreme-Conditions exoskeleton stored down in the Eva cages.

If Misato _did _find what Gendo and Keel were looking for, no doubt they would expect her to have a plan ready to attack an Angel in the middle of a Volcano…so she might as well get started.

***

_The Geofront looks so magnificent at sunset _Fuyutsuki thought to himself as he gazed out from his office at the vast open space of forests and gently rolling hills that reached to the edge of the walls of the enormous hemisphere. The golden light was entirely natural despite the fact that they were underground, gathered on the surface by gigantic rectangular towers on the edge of Tokyo-3 and translated through their crystalline surfaces to dozens of light emitting strips along the Geofront dome. Artificial light sources in the towers could boost the light levels if needed, but in his mind the natural light of the sunset was just perfectly spectacular as it was.

Yet as always, whenever he had the time to simply enjoy the view, he couldn't help but recall his first visit to this place back in 2003. Oh he had been so _full _of righteous indignation at the impossible, utterly _unbelievable_ conspiracy he had stumbled onto –actually that SEELE had very carefully _let _him discover- crashing into Gendo's office with all the subtlety of a berserk Evangelion unit, point blank accusing him of being behind the genocide that was Second Impact.

But for some damn idiotic reason, he had listened to Gendo when he had asked if he would mind terribly taking a short trip to Hakone before he did anything else…

Still, he found this a most pleasing way to end this day, leaning his chair back and placing his feet on the window sill as he sipped a generous measure of twenty year old scotch from a crystal decanter, watching as the light level dropped bit by bit…though he wasn't so caught up in his study of the gigantic cavern that he missed the sound of the door opening and closing behind him. He didn't react to the unannounced presence precisely because there was but a single man who _could_ enter his room without announcement, and any pointless posturing would far from impress that man.

"There is another glass on the shelf," was all he said to acknowledge the intruder as he tracked the lights of a loaded passenger train slowly ascending towards the roof of the Geofront and the dozens of buildings that hung from the 'sky', the sound of a glass being filled coming from behind him shortly there after by Gendo Ikari rounding the edge of the desk to ease down on the corner.

"Everything went as planned?" the Commander asked without preamble.

"Justas planned" Kozo nodded. "It was all the Seconds idea of course."

"As we suspected," Gendo snorted, taking a sip from his tumbler as he gazed out over the site of today's excitement. "I take it you impressed upon them how…displeased we are over this?"

"As far as I could tell, yes. I have a strong feeling the good Captain will be unleashing far more, shall we say 'punitive' punishments when she has a chance."

"Captain Katsuragi _is_ growing rather close to the children," Gendo mussed as he let his eyes track across the shimmering lake and the _Hatsuyuki_ Class Frigate sitting in the middle of it, Kozo joining him in a silent study of the oddly out of place warship sitting placidly in the middle of the underground lake. How precisely the UN had _gotten _the Frigate down here was a mystery to him, but it was one he had deliberately refrained from trying to solve as a test of his self control.

And it couldn't _possibly_ match the story of the patrol craft floating on LCL in Terminal Dogma anyway.

"Do you foresee any conflict between her professional and personal duties to the children?"

"At this stage, no," Fuyutsuki answered bluntly with a shrug. "The Second and Third - as well as the First to a lesser degree - have been brought together in a profoundly professional relationship, their piloting duties serving as the framework for their interactions. _But,_" Kozo quantified his statement with emphasis, placing his glass on the edge of his desk as he sat back up, reluctantly taking his feet off the windowsill, "there is an underlying threat of dangerous emotional attachment in such an uncontrolled environment, especially given the growing personal relationship between the Second and Third. And needless to say, emotional contamination is ten times the threat where Rei is concerned."

"You will monitor the situation to ensure our primary goals are not threatened?" Gendo half asked and half ordered, the golden light from outside reflecting off his sunglasses working to hide his eyes and thoughts from scrutiny as he stared out the domain _he _was Lord and Master of.

Kozo inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement.

_As if I had any choice in the matter_…

"As with all things in life, the relationships between the Children and us seek a point of equilibrium," Gendo lectured in a somewhat thoughtful voice into the silence of the office. "Shinji's willingness, and indeed, even his _ability_ to leave Tokyo-3 have all but been terminated thanks to the relationships he has developed. Regardless of if he finds piloting his Evangelion distasteful, and irrespective of his feelings for _me, _he will now continue to do so as long as we need him to, as the price of maintaining that which he has always sought."

"So, you've given up on any chance of trying to make peace with him in the little time we have left?"

Gendo didn't even flinch from the blunt question.

"It is neither necessary - nor particularly useful - to our scenario to try and 'make peace' with my Son, _Professor_, especially when he has made his feelings regarding _me_ pointedly clear," Gendo stated placidly. "Our new 'relationship' has been relatively frictionless thus far, and I have no intention of upsetting that because you maintain some ill-conceived notion that we must reconcile…" Gendo lectured, before letting a rare slight smirk come across his face. "And if he _has _found a genuine home with a surrogate family, it would make me a poor Father if I dislocated the fulcrum of _his_ equilibrium by trying to push myself in where he doesn't want me."

"Touché _Commander,_" Kozo saluted him with an expression that didn't _quite_ openly mock his logic, picking up his glass again and tapping it against the younger mans. "So, if I may ask, what was so critical you couldn't deal with this incident yourself?"

"Our good friend Chairman Keel found out about everything that happened today," Gendo replied nonchalantly before he took a measured sip from his own glass…in contrast to Kozo, who froze in the act of moving his to his mouth, placing it back onto the table as all urges to drink faded rapidly.

"Well that was fast work," Kozo muttered. "Ryoji Kaji?"

"Indeed, but it is of no consequence. Keel is going to use this incident to demand an audience with the Children, to ascertain if we are 'using them' properly."

"Typical. Well, we still have several viable options to stall him-"

"On the contrary, I _want_ them to conference, tomorrow if at all possible." Kozo felt his jaw drop as his mind worked in a fast blur-

"You _told _Kaji to leak the events to Keel?" He received a slightly amused looking nod. "In the name of God, _why_?"

Giving SEELE's public face an open invitation to screw with _their_ pilots? Had Gendo lost his _mind_?

"Please professor, language," Gendo chided, placing his empty glass on the table. "A visual aid is a far more useful learning tool then an un-quantified threat. The Committee, for all the problems their interference generates, is a wonderfully useful tool for this purpose given that external pressure, by definition, tends to unite _internal_ factions. In bringing such a faction into play and standing with the Children against it, we will ensure this…'incident' today will only serve to both send the Children a message _and _fortify our ability to reject overt interference from SEELE".

Kozo could only slowly shake his head at the logic, wondering if there was nothing Gendo wouldn't –or couldn't- turn to his advantage, as he reflected back on how all this chaos had started…

***

"WHAT? What do you MEAN I can't GO?"

The engaged, violated and downright horrified question crashed through the walls of the apartment as if they didn't exist, slamming into the long suffering warm water penguin housemate of Misato Katsuragi most rudely. Startled out of his pleasant floating nap in the bathtub, Pen-Pen shot an irritated glare –or at least the closest approximation a Penguin could make- at the wall, before clambering out and waddling over to a towel, reflecting –and not for the first time- on the instability of human beings.

A social animal, Pen-Pen had been quite delighted with the arrival of the new humans into his rather limited environment. After all, he enjoyed frolicking as much as the next penguin, but in hindsight, while he was more than happy with the young male who provided such splendid catches of fish, had he been in charge of their social order _he_ would have tossed the young female back into the ocean.

_Why_ precisely Shinji kept Asuka around was confusing for the genetically engineered avian, given her tendency to attack and loudly clash with the apparent provider of all her food and maintainer of all her clothing, but such was the strangeness of these humans.

So yet again he did his best to ignore the increasingly loud arguments coming through the door, fluffing vigorously inside the shower stall to dry his feathers as the penguin cursed the fact that his 'owner' had yet again 'borrowed' _his_ hair –come feather- dryer and placed it on a shelf he couldn't possibly reach…

"Yup!" Misato answered Asuka's protest in the living room, in an all too gleeful tone to the mind of the Second Child, who started to see red as she realized Misato was _not _kidding around, that she was actually going to refuse permission for her to go on the long promised trip to Okinawa!

"Well _why_ _not_?" Asuka demanded.

"It is part of your _job,_" Misato pointed out with only a slight trace of sarcasm in her voice as she sipped unconcerned from her fruit juice, idly wondering when exactly it had been that Shinji had started rather brutally dictating her drinking habits. She hadn't had any beer –with plentiful supply available- in at least two _days_ now; that _had _to be a record.

"You mean I'm on permanent standby?" Asuka grated as she crashed face first into a rare downside of her profession. After all, being an Evangelion pilot was supposed to _open_ privileges for her as a reward for _risking her life_ _day after day at 14 years old_, not close them off! How _dare _they!

"You got it!" Misato said, her sloppy grin utterly unaffected by the molten glare directed at her from across the table.

"Well what _idiot _decided that?" The fiery redhead demanded, her sophisticated mind already hard at work plotting against whoever had ordered this stupidity, thinking of ways to change their minds using any means necessary-

"_This_ one," Misato continued to smirk, swinging the jaws of the trap shut. "The Operations Planning Manager."

Asuka stared dumbfounded for a good three seconds before –with great dignity- standing up as she realized she was getting nowhere with her protests, her mind whirling in circles as she tried to find some angle to attack from.

In the kitchen a few meters away, Shinji Ikari, busy cleaning up the remains of dinner tried not to shake his head and smile _too _much at the conversation. He wasn't really _trying _to eavesdrop, but given the volume Asuka was projecting with it would have been very hard notto hear their words. He was somewhat astonished that this conversation had unfolded just about _exactly_ the way remembered, despite all the changes he had made since coming back, but he was determined to use the opening it gave him none the less.

"Actually," he called out into the living room, tossing the hand towel onto the bench as stepped out of the kitchen, "I wouldn't mind staying if Asuka went." Walking into the living room, he paused to swipe a can of iced tea and walked up next to a disbelieving Asuka - who was lookingrather nice in a loose singlet top and _very _short shots that left little to the imagination -

_Focus Shinji, focus _he told himself as he dragged his attention back to Misato.

"I mean, if Asuka went on the trip, it would still leave Rei and me here if an Angel _did _attack. And if we _really_ needed Asuka back in an emergency, NERV could get her back here in an hour or so, right?"

"And what about _Rei_?" Misato answered pointedly before Asuka could respond to the offer.

"I already asked Rei," he quickly countered, getting a suspicious look from both women, but he ignored it. "She doesn't care about the trip at all, I'm sure we can entertain ourselves for a few days."

Well that was true, if anything, Rei had been oddly ambivalent about the trip and more then agreeable to his proposal. It had taken a few hours after he had talked to her for him to realize that Rei had probably never even _left _Tokyo-3 before in her life, and it might not have been wise to push her too far, too fast.

Not that his Father _would _have let her leave of course, but it was the thought that counted.

And besides, it would be nice to spend a few days with her outside of school or NERV. As deep as his feelings ran for Asuka, his feelings for Rei ran just as deep, and he hadn't been spending anything like as much time as he would have liked with her recently…and he missed that.

Granted, in the 'past' they had not really _done _much, their time together had mostly comprised of him talking and Rei listening, with the occasional confounding response from the First Child to confuse him for the rest of the day –or slap to the face on _that_ occasion- but none the less, he found himself missing those quiet times…

"That's very generous of you Shinji, but still rather unfair to you and Rei," Misato finally pointed out, leaning back as she silently cursed Shinji trying to play the self sacrificing hero again. She had thought –or at least _hoped_- the dance might have broken him of that habit and she had no wish to see Asuka trying to take advantage of his-

"That's right," Asuka broke in with a slightly narrowed gaze. "If one of us goes, we _all _should go; it's not fair if you two stay behind."

_My God, is Asuka actually _growingup? Misato stared at the fourteen year old girl in shock before she glanced away, a surge of shame crashing in on her as she scolded herself for the thought. It was all too easy to dismiss Asuka as a little more then a bitchy teenager with a chip on her shoulder the size of Mount Fuji, but she should know better.

In fact she _did _know better.

After all, when Asuka had reached the age kids would be starting school, she had already been in full military training to defend the human species from total destruction. When their parents were spoiling most kids rotten, she had been learning how to rely on no-one but herself because she really _had _no-one else. And at the age children dreamed of being pop stars or princesses, Asuka had known for years that _she _had no say in her purpose in life… and what the stakes were if she failed.

After the dance and her encounter with Kaji above the dance floor, Misato had in fact started to wonder if Asuka's obsession with her former boyfriend was far more meaningful then she had ever given it credit for. She had always dismissed Asuka's behavior as little more than teenage infatuation… but after reflecting on Kaji's deft parries of her unsubtle advances, now she couldn't help but question if the near obsessive behavior she had witnessed from the Second Child had in fact been Asuka desperately clinging to the one adult who had honestly cared –and had _shown _he cared- for her, one of the few people in her life who had been able to actually break though her forbidding walls and earn her trust.

Asuka might well pretend–when it suited her- to be a charmingly open and friendly girl to people around her, but _she_ knew full well it was pure camouflage; the _real _Asuka sitting behind that façade did _not_ give her trust to people lightly, or at all easily.

And yet…there was Shinji Ikari.

A person Asuka had only known for a little over a month and vice-versa, yet appeared to be utterly, impossibly immune to _everything_ she had thrown at him in her standard attempts to push him away, patiently and persistently working his way closer to the _real _Asuka no matter whatshe did to discourage him…and Misato had started to glimpse that almost against her will, Asuka appeared to be edging closer to _him_.

Glancing across at Shinji as she reflected on what he had just so genuinely and freely offered to Asuka, Misato had an uncanny feeling that if this had been the Asuka who had arrived in Japan a few months ago, she would have gleefully jumped at his offer with both hands and barely a second thought. Yet now, when given the –apparent- choice of going, but going _without_ Shinji or Rei…

"No deal," was all she said in the end, reaching down and picking up a pair of flash drives, which she brandished at her charges like the weapons they were for her. "In _fact_, you should consider this a valuable and rare chance to catch up on your schoolwork… or did you think I hadn't seen these grades?"

"What _about_ our grades?" Shinji asked with a surprised look on his face, genuine confusion -for once- passing through his mind. After all, he _had_ made a point of finding a convenient way of letting it 'slip' to Hikari shortly after her 'new' best friend arrived that although Asuka spoke fluent Japanese, her skill reading and writing kanji was far less advanced. Hikari of course had at once all but started a holy crusade to help Asuka with her writing and the Second Child's grades had rapidly started to improve accordingly.

His grades had also dramatically improved this time around, for rather less… honest reasons; he had already _taken_ all the tests once before after all. And although it had opened up a rather odd moral dilemma, he really couldn't get _too _worked up about being in the top twenty percent of students of his class given how many _other _laws of man –and nature- his very existence broke.

Though it was unlikely even Unit One would offer sufficient protection if Hikari _ever_ found out the truth…

"You're both doing your best, I don't think anyone could possibly dispute that," Misato replied in a magnanimous sort of way, gesturing them to sit down, which he and Asuka did – though Asuka rather more grudgingly. "I know you're both working hard at school, but you've both missed several assignments and tests this year thanks to your piloting duties. The school is graciously going to let you submit some work over the next three days to make up for it, which should shoot you two to right to the top ten percent of your year!" she announced, placing the flash drives back on the table with a flourish and a grin.

"So why should _I _care?" Asuka challenged her in an utterly unimpressed tone barely giving the flash drive Misato had placed in front of her a glance. "In case you've forgotten-"

"-You've gone to college," Misato finished the thought in a somewhat tired sounding voice, clearly fighting to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Yes, yes I know. Shinji knows. Everyone in NERV knows. Everyone in your schoolknows. Everyone in _Tokyo-3_ probably knows. But Shinji _hasn't_ and I need to make sure he gets as good an education as can possibly be provided to him."

Misato sighed slightly, letting the cheerful look fall from her face to something a little more serious, but she felt buoyed by the fact that Asuka appeared to be calming down.

"It's not _that_ much work, just a couple of take home tests; and you don't even have to go into school to do them, I even think you might find yours a little challenging for a change Asuka. I'm sure if you put your minds to it you could polish them off tomorrow, then take the next two days off, have a nice little break of your own!"

"But no scuba diving," Asuka replied, unable to keep the bitterness out of her sigh as she reached across the table and picked up her flash drive, glaring at it as if it was a new enemy for her to crush. "All those new swimsuits I brought for _nothing!_"

"Well, if you want to model them for Shinji we _do_ have a pool at headquarters you know," Misato teased, and as fast as that-

"EWWW! You perverted Hentai _matron!_" Asuka all but screeched crashing back to her feet and pointing at Misato with a hand trembling in rage and embarrassment, her face rapidly turning scarlet. "Don't you have _any_ shame?"

Not waiting for an answer, Asuka turned and fled, slowing only long enough to grab her packed luggage by the door, half-carrying and half dragging it with her as she retreated, followed by the _crack _of a sliding door crashing shut and a shriek of a counterpoint from the doors guide rails protesting their treatment.

"I _have_ to oil up those tracks some time," Misato muttered, glancing at the hallway with a slight frown, before she shrugged and took another gulp of her juice.

"Misato, there _must_ be a way to let Asuka go on-"

"Shinji, don't backslide in that 'everyone but me must be happy' crap again," she warned him, all traces of teasing gone from her voice as she sent her now empty can spinning off towards the bin with a casual flick of her wrist. "We went over this before the dance; enough of playing the hero already! And regardless of what you might think this isn't about_ you_, this a _war_; I'm not about to diminish our strength by one third because Asuka wants to go swimming, the sooner she realizes her job isn't something she can put away when its inconvenient, the better".

"Yes Misato," he sighed, turning away and without further comment, slowly walking back to his room, knowing when Misato brought _that _tone out, he had no chance of changing her mind.

Not that it helped that her logic was unassailable… but it would have been nice to have Asuka out of Tokyo-3 when the A-17 was issued. His somewhat sketchy plan had been that Father would send him and Unit One in the Type-D equipment with Asuka –at worst- recalled to wait on standby while Rei backed him up from the surface as he attacked the Angel…but now there seemed to be no chance of that.

And knowing what the next few days would bring, he knew he wouldn't get much sleep tonight.

_Not that I got much yesterday _he thought darkly as he flopped onto his bed, not even bothering to shut the door as he stared up at the ceiling again. He had had more then a few nightmares since he had found himself back at the start of all this horror, though they had faded away after the first week. Almost always, they had involved watching helplessly as Evangelion Units Five through Thirteen chewed down on Unit Two, listening to Asuka's screams as the grinning eyeless titans of the Mass Production Evangelions tore her to pieces, unable to do anything to stop it.

Last night however, it had not been the past that had haunted him; but the future.

Last night, he had jumped into the lava after Asuka as the Eighth Angel had disintegrated, just like he had in the past. He had felt his AT-field burning around him as it resisted the lava for the sixty odd seconds it would last on maximum power, just like the first time. He had reached out his arm as Asuka's umbilical cable slowly tore, just like the first time…

Except this time, he had _missed_.

His right hand had just barely brushed the claw Asuka had raised towards him as his left held onto the absolute limit of the shredded umbilical cable, which started to pull him up towards 'safety'; staring in utter defiance of what he _knew _had happened and _should _have happened as Asuka continued to sink.

"_Please, I don't want to die Shinji!"_

He had screamed for the cable to reverse, to drop in pursuit after her, but it continued to steadily pull him up towards the surface as Misato and Ritsuko cheerfully told him what a good job he had done.

"_Please don't leave me Shinji!"_

He had tried, _God _he had _tried_ to let go, to swim after her and do something, _anything_, but his hand refused to let go, Unit One refused to respond to him-

"_I don't want to die! Help me Shinji! Please, _HELP ME_!"_

And no matter how hard he strained, his Evangelion simply continued to ascend leaving him looking down as Unit Two slowly vanished into its tomb of liquid rock, the distance between his extended hand and her extended claw increasing as every second passed, her face on his display breaking up into static as she stared in pure, unrefined, terror directly at him, buried alive in liquid rock.

"_Please…please don't let me die…Shinji…Sh-"_

-And he had snapped awake and gasping for air, crying out alone in the darkness of his room.

Then and there he finally _understood_ just how close the battle against the Eighth Angel had been; Asuka had come literally within seconds of dying. And with hindsight –and the borrowed memories in his head- he could finally understand the reason _she_ had been sent on the mission had _not _been because she was the hotshot new pilot being given a chance to prove her worth, but because the operation had an unacceptably high risk factor and Unit Two –unlike Unit One or the pilot of Unit Zero- was eminently expendable, at least in his_ Father's _mind.

_But not this time._

He _couldn't_ risk letting her take on that Angel again. Not when the margin for success was so razor thin on this operation, not given how much he had changed things around already where the slightest hesitation, the slightest mistake could mean her _death_…

Whichwould then be unquestionably on his head, no-one else's.

Of course, the issue of _how _he was going to stop her was-

"You're still up?"

The voice -_that _voice- crashed into his rather depressing thoughts without warning, causing him to jump halfway off his bed in shock and surprise before he managed to get his head back under control, closing his eyes and taking a deep and slow breath before turning to face the figure silhouetted in his doorway.

Asuka was leaning against the open doorframe with a curious look on her face, her arms crossed over her chest as she studied him. How long she had been standing there he didn't have a clue…but the fact she was wearing her pajamas this early in the evening was rather odd…

At least he _thought _it was odd until he sat up and caught a glimpse of the clock on his bedside stand.

He had been lying here for three and a half_ hours_?

That wasn't good.

In his rather extensive experience on the matter, brooding in a bedroom for that long just _never_ led to good things.

"Oh," was all he could say, blinking in surprise at the clock. "I didn't realize it was so late".

"No kidding," Asuka observed, stepping into his room without so much as a 'By Your Leave'. "So why are _you _sulking in your room? _I'm_ the one who got chewed out by Misato for daring to want a vacation."

"I'm not sulking," he corrected her, finding the energy to work up half a smile. "I'm thinking".

"Ahhh," she said, as her eyes focused on him in a manner that said she didn't believe him for a second, halting next to his bed with her hands on his hips in the way that _always_ made his heart beat faster, her hair once again contained by neural clips, yet still flowing like a scarlet waterfall that all but begged to have hands run through…

He _hadn't_ been lying when he had told her simply being around her made him feel _alive_ in a way he had _never_ felt in his life before meeting her.

"And pray tell, _what_ were you thinking about Baka?"

"School," he lied.

"Really?" she snorted. "Such a _boring _little boy, I see you're taking Misato's pep talk to heart like a _good_ little student."

"Well if you want to go and change into one of your swim suits and do a little modeling GAH-" Shinji was cut off mid retort as Asuka seized a convenient pillow and did her best to start smothering him with a look of mock –or at least hopefullymock- anger on her face for several seconds, before she took pity and relented, tossing the pillow at his feet and leaning up against the wall next to his bed.

"You are _incorrigible_," she sighed, ignoring his coughing as he worked to get oxygen back into his suddenly abused lungs. "But um, look, I just wanted to well…to say thankyou."

After a quick time out to restore his brains oxygen flow he glanced curiously up at her, but she wasn't exactly meeting his gaze, instead appearing to find something rather fascinating about her thick pink bedroom socks. "Offering to stay behind so I could go to Okinawa, Rei too in fact, you were both uh…well…it…it was _nice_ of you to offer it."

"I'm sorry Misato didn't tell you until you had boughtall that…stuff," he replied with a now slightly forced smile, knowing just how (over) excited she had been about this trip, but more than anything else, just feeling a depression over the fact that he couldn't spare her the upcoming descent into hell.

"Oh, no great loss, I got to spend some time with Kaji," she said with a smile at the floor, though Shinji couldn't help but feel slightly smug that her expression was simply 'happy' and not 'restraining-order level obsession' as it had been for a long, _long _time wherever Kaji was concerned. "And I'll just lend Hikari most of what I brought; at least _she _can have fun with it…but stop trying to distract me, what's eating _you _up, Third?"

"Eh?" He said while trying to retreat slightly as she finally turned her gaze on him; feeling pined in place under those eyes that, without fail, could punch through any defense he could put up, see through any deception if she pushed hard enough…

"You're not the type of person who just sits around, moping in your bedroom for hours on end," she pointed out reasonably.

_Oh Kami. If she only knew how depressingly _funny_ that was…_

"I've just…been having a bit of trouble sleeping," he confessed, just not able to muster the strength to tell her yet another lie under her gaze, wondering again how the hell Kaji could keep deceiving everyone about everything so_ easily_…

"What kind of trouble?" she asked impatiently…although her voice now actually had something like the _slightest_ edge of genuine concern in it, damn her.

_Oh nothing, just dreaming of your entry plug imploding as molten rock crushes you to death…_

"It was just a bad night," he tried to dismiss the whole thing, hoping she would let it be as he saw the sudden unease in her gaze at this particular topic…

"You've been having nightmares."

It was a statement, not a question.

"Asuka, can we not talk about this?" He replied breaking away from those eyes and directing his gaze towards the safe neutral ceiling once again, just mentally pleading with her to let it go, to drop the line of questioning before her patient tugging unraveled his painstakingly built string of lies…

"What _kind _of nightmares?" She continued as if he had said nothing, shifting slightly against the wall so she near towered over him and brought her gaze back into play…and he just couldn't help himself. He was so _tired _of lying to her about everything, the biggest phony in the world as he hid everything she had a _right _to know…even if he knew he couldn't, he _mustn't _tell her the truth-

"It's _nothing,_" he lied with a sharp tone that he regretted almost at once, _feeling_ as much as seeing the glare she shot him in response as she shoved off the wall, pushed away yet again by someone… and given how horribly sensitive she must be to _any_ talk of nightmares, he felt like the biggest asshole in the world.

Well, _except_ his Father of course_-_

"Fine!" Asuka snapped. "Stay here and mope Baka, see if _I_ give a damn!" and with that she stomped for the door-

"Asuka!" He called after her as she stalked off, stopping her at the doorway and causing her to glance over her shoulder with a look easily said to be cold and disinterested…but under it, he could see was a true layer of real_ hurt_ that stabbed into him like a progressive knife.

"_What_?"

"I…I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that, you were just trying to help," he apologized softly before with a sigh, he turned his gaze once again to the ceiling. Regardless of his own problems, he had _never_ wanted to hurt her; she already had far too many horrors in herpast to saddle him with any of the legion that followed _him _around these days.

There was a heavy silence in the room for several seconds as he waited for her to leave. But to his surprise, he heard her retrace her footsteps to his bed, and with only slight hesitation, she actually sat down on the edge of it.

"Do…you want to talk about it?"

Oh God he wished he could. He wanted _so much_ to just say 'screw security', to hell with the consequences and just tell Asuka _everything_-

_No!_

In those thoughts lay terrible, _disastrous_ risks. Three billion people were counting on him _including her_, as well as Misato, Re and _everyone_ he cared about. All of them, if they were to have _any_ chance this time around were relying on him keeping his big mouth _shut_. He just couldn't risk putting her into the kind of danger he lived in, tap dancing on the minefield sown by SEELE, his Father and the Angels, where the slightest misstep could result in disaster.

So he rotated his head to look her in the face, and offered her a slightly wan smile.

"I…I appreciate the offer…but I just…" he let his voice trail off helplessly. He just didn't know what he could say. More than anything else he just wanted her to leave his room…and more then anything else, he wanted her to stay.

"…Alright," she said after a few seconds, and the silence that reclaimed the room was a conversation all of its own as they both turned back to study the floor and ceiling.

***

Asuka Langley Soryu _hated_ awkward silences. Always had, always did. As a rule of thumb, she would either walk out on such a moment in annoyance, or, _she_ would take the initiative and say _something _to change the direction of the conversation.

But she felt an odd -and awkward- resistance to the idea of simply getting up and walking out of his room…and found she was utterly unable to say anything on _this _subject. Her nightmares had been banished for weeks now, and she knew it was thanks to _him_. _How _he had vanquished her bad dreams still made her blush when she dared to think about it –and she _did _dare more then she would ever admit just before she fell asleep each night- but deep down, she knew he had done something she had never been able to do, despite years of trying…

And now _he _was having nightmares.

_Well there isn't anything I can do about it _she told herself in the dead silence of the room finally deciding to try and make a tactful exit as soon as she could. _I feel for him, Gott knows _I_ understand how hard this can be, but he's strong, he'll survive_-

'You're using him Asuka'

Asuka froze in the very act of starting to get up as the thought drifted into her mind; _that_ voice yet again mocking her from the depths of her mind with thoughts she would much rather ignore, but feelings continued to come faster and faster.

She remembered how Shinji had told her about his Mother, but she had still told him _nothing _about hers. She could vividly recall all the times and ways she had tried to hurt him_…_only to have Shinji just pretend it never happened and keep going with a smile. His confounding patience and tolerance…the way all but _offered_ _himself_ as someone to vent on when her moods turned sour, like a human _punching_ _bag _at times…yet he _still _tried to get even closer to her, _not _shunning her as a 'bitch' or 'asshole' or 'brat' as _so _manyother people she _might_ have cared about in her life had.

And then was the way he had made her nightmares vanish…

She had used him –_still _used him- like a glorified teddy bear…but she had never even thanked him for it, given that even _she _couldn't credit the validity of whispering in his ear while he slept…

_Alright _she admitted to herself with another sigh, albeit one of acceptance. As much as she _loathed_ the idea, well-

'And lets not mention at the dance as he held you like he would _never_ let you go right after you forced him to admit how _he_ felt _-_' a voice smoothly put in with an undercurrent of a smirk-

_I SAID ALRIGHT _she raged and the voice –_her _voice- vanished at once, shredded by the hurricane of _her_ anger.

Anger was good, anger was an old friend and faithful companion; always there to help clear her mind and always there to protect her from herself. Yet today, for the first time it utterly failed her… leaving her alone to face a simple truth… as much as she hated to admit it.

She had taken everything Shinji had given her -even if he didn't _know_ he had given anything to her-and she had given _nothing _to him in return. Oh sure he gave some nebulous answer about how he felt 'alive' around her, but come on, _really_…

She owed him.

Like it or not, _she_ owed _him_. And if Misato hadn't shot him down tonight, she would have owed him even more for getting her onto that plane to Okinawa, sacrificing his own _right_ to be happy for her,yet _again_.

She could notstand owing _anything_ to _anyone _verdammt, and the sudden revelation of just how far in debt she was to him was utterly infuriating…so what could _she _do for _him_?

She wished she could take his nightmares away, but there wasn't anything she could do-

Or…or _could_ she?

Oh no.

_No way!_

_That_ was ridiculous; an _insane_ idea…

…but, well, it _had_ worked to get rid of hernightmares, a prospect she had become fatalistically convinced years ago would _never_ happen. And on a level she _really_ didn't understand, she trusted Shinji. She trusted him in a way that she trusted almost no-one_…_and terrifyingly, she still didn't know _why_.

But even so! This would be something requiring a whole new level of trust; trust _and_ risk. Her pride, the bulwark of her soul was feeling strangely schizophrenic as she considered the possibility. One half urged her to leave, whispering that she had made a firm decision to keep Shinji at a distance some time ago, to avoid destroying one of her all too few genuine friendships in a moment of stupidity _just like this_…but a louder voice hammered into her and scoffed at the notion, questioning if she could even _claim _to be his friend if she was just going to sit here like a coward and let him suffer…

And really, it all came back to a simple truth; _she_ _owed_ _him_. And this would even the score…or at least slap a rather large down payment on her debt.

And she always paid her debts. By the honor of Asuka Langley Soryu, she _always_ paid her debts, and so…

***

"Take off your jacket."

Blinking, Shinji flicked his gaze down from the ceiling. Of all the things he had expected Asuka to say to break this awkward silence between them, 'take off your jacket' was not precisely at the top of his list.

"Uh… what?"

"Take. Off. Your. Jacket." She repeated, now sounding slightly annoyed at his lack of comprehension –and compliance- though, as she was keeping her face pointed away from him he had a problem in telling if she was being serious. Deciding however that it was generally safer to his person to humor Asuka then deny her, he slowly sat up and, with only slight hesitation, eased out of his jacket and tossed it onto the floor, leaving him clad in a T-Shirt and tracksuit pants.

Hardly high fashion, but it _was _comfortable.

"Good," she said, standing and heading for the door, making him wonder again what was going on…until she closed it.

With her on the inside.

Okay, _this _was new.

"Well don't just sit there, get in bed!" she ordered with a snap of irritation at his lack of compliance with orders she had not given, so he moved, finding an odd but familiar comfort in the confused and intimidating spiral of emotions Asuka's behavior was bringing him as he twisted around-

Then the lights went out.

With the exception of his half open blinds, the act banished all light, forcing him to blink several times in vain effort to adjust and focus as he waited for her to leave…

Except she didn't.

_She must have just forgotten something _he thought as he heard her moving around, until-

"_Don't_ move," she ordered suddenly from right next to his bed in a dark tone that promised _dire_ consequences if he did, and then with a rustle of sheets, she was _crawling _over him and on his bed-

_Okay, she's just kidding around…she…she's…oh my _God_, she's…!_

His eyes bulged open in shock as he felt Asuka squirm energetically under his covers until she had settled into place next to him, the Second Child only needing to apply minor poking to get him to shift across as she claimed something like an equal share of the bed, setting her head down next to his with a satisfied sigh as she relaxed into a bed that suddenly felt about six sizes too small.

Frozen didn't quite describe how utterly _immobile_ Shinji felt his body become as Asuka stopped moving, his mind having a rather hard time focusing on anything beyond the fact that _Asuka Langley Soryu was in his bed!_

At least when he had woken to find her clinging to him on the floor a few weeks back, she had been unconscious and they had both pretended it had _never_ happened. And sure this time she wasn't pressing against him, or clinging onto him with arms and legs…but this time they _were_ both fully awake and awareof what was going on-

"Asuka," he finally managed to get out a good thirty seconds later, by which point the silence between them stretched to a level of ridiculousness even _he_ couldn't stand as he tried to ignore the seductive, comfortable heat starting to tease into his body from his left, a feeling his Japanese cultural upbringing screamed was so _wrong_, yet felt so dangerously, electrically _right…_

"Yeeessss?" She replied in a tone that caused a wave of heat to flush over his face, the valiant efforts of his right hand to pinch his leg and bring _any_ kind of focus back through extreme pain having utterly no effect as wrong, really _really _wrong images of what might come next blurred through his mind at high speed.

"You're…you're in my bed," he stuttered out, realizing as he said it how _stupid_ such a blatantly obvious statement sounded, but finding his scattered mind completely incapable of coming up with anything else…and frankly, not a whole lot more needed to be said!

"Yup," she agreed, in a –thankfully- more normal tone.

"…um, can I ask _why_?"

"_Mine_ won't be delivered for another week"

And it was true; Asuka, Hikari and Rei –whom he, Toji and Kensuke had very quietly (and very privately) christened the 'Stooge-ettes'- had gone shopping two days ago, Asuka finally acting on his suggestion to just buy a bed if she hated her futon so much. And it had 'only' taken her a good three hours to pick a bed out; a monster King Single that he calculated would just _barely_ fit into her room, containing an advanced gel-layered mattress that would actually sculpt itself to her body and provide 'perfect support'.

Plus it was made in the EU, which made it a rather forgone conclusion that it _would_ be her bed, but-

"You've been sleeping on your own futon for a while" he pointed out as he fumbled for words desperately, his mind doing its best impression of a hamster running in its wheel as he desperately tried to think. "So um…"

"Well think of it this way," she said and he could hear the smirk of pride in her tone even without looking. "What do you think the chances are of having a _nightmare_ with _me _sleeping next to you to dream about, Hentai?"

_And when _you_ are_ _my nightmares? _Shinji thought silently, his mood of nervous anxiety at once collapsing into a black hole of depression, albeit a depression far lighter then his past levels of introverted self loathing.

At least until inspiration struck and he realized there _was_ a way to tell her. And even if more then anything else he just wanted to shut up and embrace this preciously rare moment of being so close to the person he cared so much about, he just _couldn't_...not without saying _something_-

"Asuka…" he tried to start, his voice cutting off as his throat swelled shut in a futile attempt to stop him ruining everything, before he pushed on. "Asuka, you…you _are_ in my nightmares".

Ah, perfect. He had destroyed a moment he had _dreamed_ about for over a year now with a mere six words, that _had _to be a new record, even for him.

Turning slightly to face her, he clinically noted humor draining from her face into a kind stoic embarrassment or humiliation as she realized he wasn't joking; the moment hanging heavily on them both until he broke it -and their locked gazes- by turning again to look at the ceiling, knowing he couldn't possibly do this staring at her face, a distant part of him worshiping her glory in the soft moonlight; her hair framing a fiery halo around her soft, _perfect_ face as it lay there on _his_ _pillow_…

Unfortunately it wasn't nearly enough of a distraction to stop damn mouth.

"We were both in our Evas," he began slowly. "On _Over the_ _Rainbow_, you in Unit Two and me in Unit One. We had beaten the Angel again, but the explosion threw us into the water. I had a power cable plugged into my Eva but you didn't and as we both sunk, I reached out to grab your hand…" he paused, ruthlessly pushing the violent surge of emotions trying to shut him up to the side as he felt a rather odd echo of his debriefing with the JDA, "but…I missed. The cable started to pull me back; you kept sinking into the deepest trench in the ocean. I screamed for them to let me go, I tried to eject the cable, I tried to _force_ the Eva to go after you, to do _anything…_but nothing worked. You kept begging for me to help you, to not leave you to die alone as you sunk until…"

He couldn't get out the last words, but it was hardly necessary. His face showed perfectly clearly what he had felt as Unit Two imploded from the pressure.

***

Asuka wasn't exactly sure how long she just sat – lay - there after Shinji finished his tale. Feelings of disbelief, shock and yes, even _humiliation_ crashed around her mind, facing off against equally uncomfortably deep feelings of worry and guilt, the kaleidoscope of emotions throwing her thoughts into turmoil as her heart, for some reason, pounded in her chest as if she had just run a marathon.

Disbelief because it just seemed so _impossible_ to her that Shinji Ikari of all people would be having nightmares about failing in combat. When he had always been so damn _perfect_, his exasperating natural talent a _major_ source of annoyance as he took down Angel after Angel after _Angel _with barely a scratch and only the most basic of training, and yet here he was, all but crying into his pillow over something that had never happened?

Shock, because she would _never_ have guessed that _she_ was the focus of his nightmares and the implications shook her to her core, _as_ did the fact that he had confessed it to her, the image of herself slowly falling to a watery grave passing in front of her eyes before she kicked it out of her mind as an irrelevant fiction.

Humiliation because she had put her pride on the line here damn it! _Climbing_ _into_ _bed_ with a guy, even under the flimsy pretext of needing a bed to sleep in, even with a person she trusted as much as she trusted Shinji, had taken far more courage then she could admit. It had been a huge gamble…which appeared to have utterly, _miserably_, backfired.

Worry because she _had _to worry about this! What could this mean for_ her?_ Would Shinji push her away for his own good, in some idiotically misplaced attempt to protect her from this _dream?_ Worry because even the thought of Shinji pushing her away actually…hurt?

Making her realize that despite all her efforts to keep everyone at arms length, she had actually -if painstakingly- started to open up to him, leaving _her_vulnerable.

And guilt.

Guilt in spades.

Guilt because, as far as she knew, he had _never _had nightmares like this until _she _had gotten close to him. She had seen him sleep a few times on the living room floor right after she had moved in, and he had always looked so peaceful, without a worry in the world…and now she, Asuka Langley Soryu had brought his peace crashing down by her very _presence_, centered around a nightmare where _she_ died screaming for _him_ to save _her_…almost as if he had taken _her _nightmares away by starting his _own_.

And to hell with that! He had brought peace to _her _dreams, she wasn't going to sit back and be responsible for destroying _his!_ Looking at him even now, she could see how he had almost unconsciously eased away from her, the tight look on his face saying louder then words that he was waiting for her to leave.

_Like _hell_ I'm leaving, Third Child _her mind suddenly blazed with an intensity that surprised even her_. You are _not_ defeating me _that _easily! Not _this_ time damn it!_

"So?" She asked him, forcing nothing harsher then a slightly curious tone into her voice. "Who _cares_?"

Shinji turned to look at her, with an expression that suggested he was questioning her sanity.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" he asked in a low, strained voice.

"Yeah, but I don't think _you _did" she replied, striving to keep her voice calm and level and not give into her odd urge to slap him silly for being such a…well…_idiot_. "It was a _dream_. In real life, Misato would _never _keep pulling you up as I kept sinking and your Eva wouldn't just _ignore_ you, even if you tried to do something suicidal…like diving after me in B-Type equipment –and thanks for trying by the way. All that mattered Shinji, was that you _tried _your best. And if you still couldn't save me?" she shrugged slightly, "Well to quote Misato, 'this is war'. Every single time we deploy Third Child, one of us, _all _of us, may not come back. All that matters is that we try-"

"And what if," he interrupted in a tone that actually chilled her slightly for how _distant _it suddenly sounded, as if suddenly a wall had slammed up between them, "I _didn't _try? What if when you needed me the most, when you desperately needed me to stand up and watch your back, what if I just stood around feeling sorry for myself and you got hurt, or even _killed _because of it? What would you think of me _then_?"

She held back her instinctive sarcastic reply –barely- as she realized from his body language that she had found herself on the edge of a precipice; that she had stepped onto a _very _painful point for Shinji and almost intrinsically, understood that one false move; one wrong word could make this rather awkward situation far worse then it was.

_Why? _She thought as she directed her gaze at him steadily, her mind furiously working behind her eyes. _Why is he suddenly so utterly _convinced_ he might fail NERV…or more accurately, fail _me _in some way? Just from some stupid nightmare? It doesn't make sense…_

"If I was dead, I don't think I would care much," she pointed out slowly, turning to look at the rather boring roof, wondering in annoyance why Shinji found _it _so much more interesting then _her_. "But assuming I could _care_ afterwards…" she paused as she _felt_ Shinji's eyes in turn swivel from the roof to lock onto her, as if he really _did _want to know, waiting for her as she thought about it until she actually found an honest answer and glanced back at him, "Then it would depend".

"…On what?"

"On what _you_ did _after _that," she declared, shifting and rolling around to not quitestraddle him –she wasn't going to go _that _far- but making sure that he couldn't look away and ignore her again. "There are two types of people in this world Ikari," she declared in her most imperious tone. "Those who make mistakes and run away from them, and those who admit when they have screwed up, who know they have done something wrong but instead of compounding their mistake, they pick themselves up, dust themselves off and make _damn_ _sure_ they never make it again! And from what I've heard, you're not the type of person to run away."

Shinji chuckled, but it wasn't a sound of humor, it was almost chilling for the darkness that laced it…no, strike that; darkness wasn't quite the word.

Depression would be more accurate.

"Asuka, I've been running away all my life-"

"Have, _past_ _tense,_ Baka," she snorted, interrupting what she –somehow- knew was going to be a self pitying rant without hesitation, finding this new spineless Shinji increasingly vexing, but successfully resisting the urge to slap some sense into him…for now. "And I don't _care_ about your past, because you haven't run away from anything since you've arrived _here_. You _didn't_ run away from piloting Eva when you found out what it would mean for Rei, then you stayed when you understood what it would mean for this city and this planet. You _didn't_ run away from your Father, but stood up to him and gave him the finger…and…" she hesitated slightly before pushing forward in a softer voice, fighting the embarrassment that surged at what she was about to say, "You didn't run away from _me_, when I asked what I meant to you."

Glancing away for a second, she paused to reign in her emotions from that confession she had _not _wanted to let out like that, yet she couldn't easily deny, feeling the oddest surge of exhilaration that she _had_ done so as she turned back to look into Shinji's suddenly surprised eyes and locked his gaze in place as she shifted into her most imperious look, her hair swinging down as she leaned down and got right in his face, ignoring the sudden feeling of butterflies rampaging around in her stomach as their faces got closer…and closer…

_O…okay, that's close enough Girl…steady on…!_

"So I'll make you a deal Third Child," she growled to him in a somewhat direct tone when she knew she had his complete and undivided attention. "If you, at some point in the future, let me down utterly, completely and _catastrophically_ like you _think_ you might, I forgive you in advance for it…providing that you _don't _mope around like an idiot for the rest of your life but find a way, any way, to make it right, _and you don't stop trying until you _do. Fair enough?"

***

Lying on his back, with Asuka looming over him at point blank range, her face set into a fiercely demanding expression that left not the slightest room for dissent, Shinji Ikari felt another of those epiphanies he had been having with annoying frequency since 'coming back' crashing in on him.

Not necessarily by choice of course, but the fact was that Asuka's pointed demand struck at something that had been sitting in the depths of his mind ever since he had found himself standing at a payphone with 'Sachiel' bearing down on him…again. Underlying, perhaps even _staining _his new existence was a simple truth that he could try to hide from, try to ignore and even try to deny, but none the less remained patiently waiting in the background.

He had failed.

He had failed _everyone_.

He had failed on a level so grand that it had cost the human race its very _existence _in a single perfect moment of insanity_…_and now that he knew he _could _fail on such a scale, what was to stop him from doing so again?

And in Asuka's low, steady voice he finally found the answer. A truth so simple he had missed it, or perhaps just ignored it, for all these months, being so utterly set on 'making everything right' and atoning for his failure.

There was _utterly_ _nothing _that said events couldn't turn out just as bad, if not worse –if that was possible- as they had the 'first time', _this _time around. Nor was there any promise that even a victory against the Angels, SEELE and his Father meant that everyone _he _cared about would be there with him at the end, or he with them.

Rei, Lilith, Adam, Kaworu…his mother…the powers behind his existence had offered him a _chance, _nothing more or less then that. They had _not _offered him any guarantee everything would turn out well…and while he had come to terms –mostly because of Kaji's rather blunt words weeks ago - with the fact that he could never receive _any_ kind of absolution for his betrayal of Asuka at the end, his recent nightmares had brought a terrible possibility to him that he had been denying.

His very _actions_ to atone for his mistakes could cost him just a dearly as his _inaction_ had last time. That as the ripples of his changes to history started to rebound and distort the timeline as he remembered it; he could _lose_ _her_ –or anyone else he cared about- like _that_, and over the last few days as the 8th Angel grew closer, he had felt increasingly terrified about doing _anything_, not knowing how something he did might affect something else, as the ripples from his actions continued to move beyond his sight and control.

But when you really got down to it, how was that _any_ different from any other person living their lives? When had he or Asuka _not _been in mortal danger since they had known each other? The only thing he _could_ do, the very thing Asuka was _demanding _he promise her in her typically blunt way, was that he would honestly _try_. And so, when they went to fight the 8th Angel, all he could do -and all he _could_ promise her- was his best effort, as he _knew_ she would give hers.

And maybe, just _maybe_…it would be enough to keep them alive, at least until the next crisis hit.

And he could worry about _that_ when it arrived.

"Alright," he replied, returning her gaze directly as he felt his nervous anxiety of the upcoming battle drain away, setting aside his fears of a future he knew yet _didn't_ know behind a resolve to do whatever it took to make sure they did not come to pass, taking strength as he always did from the molten fire of Asuka's gaze as she demanded nothing more or less then his best effort. "I promise you; I'll never stop trying".

"Good," Asuka replied with a somewhat arch expression on her face, before she tumbled back to her side of the bed and flopped back down into place. "Now go to sleep Ikari, I'm tired".

"You're…staying?" he asked with more than a little surprise.

"I _repeat_; my bed is several days away from being delivered Baka," she snapped back, but Shinji could hear the undercurrent of relieved humor and _that_ brought a smile back to his face as he closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of her settling back into place until she stopped moving with a satisfied sigh, leaving nothing but the steady, hypnotic sound of her deep breathing in its place.

"So…can I try out your bed when it arrives?" he asked into the dark silence between them…

Which continued for a good five seconds until-

"Ikari?" she finally replied in a tone that suggested he was _greatly_ pushing his luck.

"…Yes Asuka?"

"If you wish to live through the night, shut up_. Now_"

"…Yes Asuka".

Still, as he kept the smirk he felt off his face and let his eyes fall shut, he also, just for once, threw aside any deeper questions and just decided to _exist _inthe extreme novelty and comfort of Asuka's warmth next to him. And quicker then he thought possible, he fell into a deep, restful sleep.

***

_Alright, _that_ settles that_ Asuka thought some indeterminate time later as, with no small amount of satisfaction, she finally decided that it was safe to assume Shinji's dreams this night were free of any trace of the terror that had so clearly haunted him. His face had not shifted from the relaxed and peaceful expression it had taken shortly after he had fallen asleep…and there really wasn't anything more for her to do here but go to sleep herself.

In a _bed _for once, Thank Gott! _That _alone would have made all of this insanity worthwhile.

And yet, as much as she just wanted to shut her eyes and crash right next to Shinji on his genuine mattress, there was something oddly compelling about the face next to her…and so she maintained her vigil over the Third Child as time passed, studying Shinji by the thin moonlight from his window as she wondered why she found his face so fascinating.

Or was her inability to look away from Shinji because she was looking for evidence of that _other_ Shinji who had come out tonight?

The one who was utterly _not _Shinji Ikari?

After all, he had always been so _sure_ of himself. Every insult she threw at him, it was almost as if he had heard it before and already had the perfect counter ready. Every temper tantrum she had thrown –and yes, she could grudgingly admit she had thrown more then one- he had endured with nothing more then a patient smile, waiting until she calmed down before continuing as if nothing had happened, something that had both surprised and, when she could be honest, even irrationally made her feel uneasy. In the darkness of her _own _room, she had even started to darkly wonder who the hell _she _was pretending to be next to the invincible Third Child, no matter _what_ she said publicly…

And yet, in the darkness of _his_ room, she had seen Shinji Ikari, the _hero_ of NERV, the poster boy for the entire Evangelion program she had been hearing nothing but praise about for _months_ before she had arrived in Tokyo-3 whose very _presence_ made a mockery of all her years of hard work and training, reduced to a terrified child cowering in his bed from nothing more then a fear of the future. As if no other soldier in the world had _ever_ been afraid of what tomorrow might bring, having to face the possibility of failure…

"Sie sind ein Mensch schliesslich, Dummkopf," she whispered at the calmly sleeping Shinji, letting –if just for a few seconds- a slight but honest smile that was truly _hers _pass across her face before she dropped back down into place next to him, edging as close –if keeping a discrete few centimeters away from touching him- as possible before closing her eyes, and with only a slight sigh, falling into an agreeably warm and utterly peaceful sleep of her own.

***

"You have _got _to be kidding me."

"What's the matter Ikari, _scared_?"

"Uh, well yes, actually. I've never done anything _like _this before!"

"Oh for the _love_ of…back me up First; _you_ can handle this can't you?"

"I am not qualified on such vehicles…however their operation appears relatively straight forward-"

"Hah! There! If Rei can handle this, _you _can handle it Ikari…unless you're just so plain _scared_ over the fact you _know_ I'll utterly crush you".

Something inside Shinji Ikari…'twitched'…at that statement.

For the longest time - over more then one lifetime - Asuka Langley Soryu had taken a great deal of free entertainment out of hammering in the fact that she was superior in every way to him. Oh he cared deeply for her; that was without question and her pride was as much a part of her as anything, but it didn't mean she couldn't _grate _on him at times. And while her Eva related boasting had reduced as the three of them had to work more as a team, it didn't mean that Asuka failed to take opportunities when they presented themselvesto show her superiority to him...and today hadn't been very different.

For example, Math.

After he Rei and Asuka had waved their friends off at the airport, they had taken a train into NERV-HQ - which was as good a place as any after Asuka vetoed any idea of heading into an empty classroom at school - the trio being directed to a quite conference room deep inside the labyrinth of the administration sector that Misato had thoughtfully put aside for their use.

Somewhat surprisingly, Rei had _no _work assigned at all by their teacher; somehow she had managed to stay apace with the class and in between blinks after they had arrived at the conference room, she had vanished into the depths of Central Dogma without a trace.

Two hours later, Asuka was finished.

Now that she could actually _read _the questions, the Second Child was hardly finding herself _challenged _by the 'kiddy stuff' as she continually –and loudly- derided the school work she was doing, her fingers blurring across her laptops keyboard without ever slowing down.

It was a situation made all the more annoying by the fact that he had found out Asuka's assignments were actually final year course work written for students four years older than Asuka herself…and it hadn't so much as slowed her down.

So Asuka had uploaded her work to the school server with a far too loud satisfied sigh, shutting down her laptop, packing up her things…

And then the waiting had begun.

He had tried to ignore her as he struggled through his work, muttering curses as he slowly but steadily and _honestly _made progress by himself, continually reminding himself that he had _never_ claimed to be as smart as she was.

It hadn't worked.

He had tried to put the light, idle tapping of her fingers against the wooden table as she just _sat_ _there,_ staring at him, out of his mind.

It didn't help.

She just patiently _sat_ _there_, forever _staring_ at him with an expression that clearly suggested he just had to _beg_ for her help and she would be glad –after gloating for a long, _long_ time- to _probably _help him, continually mocking him and taking every single opportunity to point out how far under her his IQ was.

In the end, his mind had snapped and he had turned to face her, letting her know with what little dignity he had that this might take a while and he would catch up with her later.

And with an unabashedly amused and pitying look, she had promptly left him for something or someone more entertaining.

Left him with the last component of his homework; a four question Math assignment that made his 'basic' physics primer from the 'first time' look _easy_.

He had managed to swallow his pride after another two hours of work only got him stuck halfway through the third of the ridiculously difficult sections, a growing headache finally deciding for him the fact that he needed some help from his roommate, despite how much enjoyment she would get from mocking his relative intelligence level. A quick check of Misato's office down the corridor had found only Misato and Doctor Akagi – and although the later _had_ tried to help him, she had only succeeded in leaving him with three times the headache from her explanations - chatting away, so he had checked the cafeteria, the command center and even the Evangelion bays with no luck, before finally ending up in the bases Olympic swimming pool where he found Ayanami swimming laps by herself, with no sign of Asuka.

Bikini clad or otherwise.

Oddly enough, just watching Rei swim had cleared his headache right up. If it was because there was something hypnotic about the knifelike motions of her body through the water, or just the fact that her presence _always_ had some strange calming effect on him he wasn't sure, but he found he didn't really care either way, finding a seat and just watching as Rei smoothly powered back and forth for the next fifteen or so minutes with a precision an atomic clock would have envied.

Eventually finishing up her laps, a slightly curious Rei had listened to him explain what he was doing here before surprisingly agreeing to join him in his search for the Second Child, emerging from the change room several minutes later in an utterly mind crushing combination of dark blue jeans, sandals and a sleeveless white tank top, all crowned by an pair of expensive looking sunglasses-nothing like his Fathers thankfully- resting on top of her azure hair, more he thought as a mimic of fashion then from any real utility.

None the less, the look she pulled off was so utterly_ not_ the Rei Ayanami that still existed in his mind that he had simply stood there like an idiot for about ten seconds staring at her, until a faintly confused sounding Rei had asked if something was wrong.

Not really trusting himself to answer _that _question, he had just said that she looked very nice and headed for the door, missing the slightest blush on her face before she had fallen into step behind him.

Continuing his search, Rei had sped up his efforts rather directly by pulling her phone and calling the Second Child. It was an approach that Shinji had never considered –and he admitted it had a certain inelegant directness- but it _did _get results; Rei relaying directions after a very short conversation that Asuka was wandering the Geofront surface, near some of the secondary buildings on top of Central Dogma…

***

Asuka Langley Soryu had rarely felt like she did today.

It was as if since waking up this morning, the entire world had a far sharper focus for her. The air felt just _that_ much crisper, her unhurried steps just that much lighter on the ground and even the fact that she was stuck in Tokyo-3 as her classmates went off for a weekend of fun on Okinawa couldn't put a dent in her mood.

And she knew perfectly well _who_ was to blame –at least partially- for her current state… and _that_ knowledge was close to driving her to distraction.

Waking up this morning, she had _very _secretly permitted herself a full five minutes to just _enjoy _the extreme novelty -and dangerously _comfortable- _feelings pulsing through her body from her rather unusual circumstances, throwing aside any and all questions of propriety, dignity or morality. Indeed, she had even ignored the fact that her head had rolled during the night to rest on _his_ shoulder…and somewhat disturbingly, she, didn't really _care _either, the utterly peaceful, relaxed state of her body and soul just felt far too _good _to care.

Oh sure, if she had woken up to find _Shinji_ touching _her_ in any way that might have been construed as 'inappropriate' in polite society, she would have made him suffer for it on a level that would have had his grandchildren - if he had been henceforth capable of _having_ any - falling over in great pain for the rest of their lives for the violation of her trust. But he had not and so she had left him in peace, gently and painstakingly easing out of his bed so as to not disturb the blissfully sleeping Third Child, smiling slightly in a smugly self satisfied way at her 'payback' for his help in eliminating _her_ bad dreams, before easing out of his room into the corridor beyond…and coming face to face with a rather icy looking Misato.

It had taken some fast talking in the living room and not a little angry indignation to convince Misato that _nothing_ untoward had happened between her and Shinji last night.

Andthat she _did _have a good reason to be sleeping in Shinji's bedroom.

In his bed.

With him _in _said bed, at the same time.

Not that in her opinion it was _any_ of Misato's business what she and Shinji chose to do -or _not_ do- together, but she allowed that she deserved at least _some_ explanation for why _she_ had been caught red handed tip-toeing out of Shinji's bedroom at seven in the morning, _before _she jumped to conclusions and made things difficult. After all, it washer house and she washer superior –_that _word she used loosely- officer, so she had suppressed her irritation at thequestioning and explained herself.

Misato's expression didn't shift by so much a nanometer as she had recounted the condition she had found Shinji in last night. Nor had it shifted when she had sidestepped into a grudging explanation of where she had gotten her idea from, laying out the events of several weeks ago that had eliminated _her _nightmares. And to say she felt _mortified_ at finally coming clean would be a heck of an understatement, but she grimly pushed on and finished her explanation –or justification?- to Misato, finally falling silent as she waited for the reprimands and lectures to start, fully prepared to place a mark of somewhat empty look of serious contrition on her face.

But… they hadn't come.

Instead, Misato's face had softened and she had reached across, put an arm around her, and with a sigh; _apologized_ for thinking so poorly of her intentions, adding with an odd expression on her face that 'she was growing up far too fast' before heading off into the kitchen, her words and actions pointedly declaring the incident over then and there.

She had been so dumbfounded at the unexpected reprieve from her guardian that she had just sat there and accepted the gesture, despite her aversion to people touching her being both ingrained and violent. But it had been actually a few hours later, with feelings of confusion and uncertainty still banging around her head as she strolled about the Geofront that she had been hit by an epiphany as something finally clicked.

Katsuragi really, truly_,_ cared about her.

And she didn't just 'care' about her as some responsibility foisted onto her, nor just as a subordinate in the NERV chain of command she had to look out for out of military necessity…but _she_ actually _cared _about _her_.

She had known the Captain for years and, at least until this morning, the nicest thing she would have said about Misato was that she didn't _actively_ hate her like she did so many other people…at least most of the time. Of course, be it her level of sloth, her perpetual state of mild drunkenness or her casual disregard for even the most _basic_ level of culinary skills…

Hell, she had made the decision to go hungry rather than risk food poisoning more than one night living with Misato, who's ability to take care of herself was highly suspect, let _alone_ anyone else!

After all, _none_ of the countless other guardians –excepting Kaji of course- had been anything like Misato. They had all been no-nonsense efficient German housekeepers, who _had _been able to cook and _did _keep her small apartment perfectly tidy; proving her a clean, comfortable living environment…and treating her with, at best, complete indifference behind plastic smiles for the short periods of time they looked after her. Until, inevitably, they had finally pushed her off to someone else and left wearing a relieved expression on their souls they thought _she_ couldn't see.

Oh they always _said_ itdifferently to her. 'Family emergency, _my_ Mother needs me, I'm so sorry'. Or 'NERV transfer orders, you understand, Ja?' And there was the classic 'I have to go on a business trip to' –insert country here- 'no idea how long it will take, this is the new person who will be looking after you, but I'll be back soon, okay?' Then there were those childless German women who delightfully saw a daughter they could hug and hold, mold and keep for their own, all of whom left for 'personal reasons' shortly after Asuka had told them exactly what she thought of their attempts to turn her into their own precious little DOLL.

But it was always ultimately the same at the end; 'Thank Gott I'm out of here, I can't _stand_ that bitch anymore, good riddance'.

But Misato Katsuragi...

Almost against her will as she strolled around the handful of auxiliary buildings that dotted the Geofront in the shadow of the brooding Headquarters pyramid, memories she had long pushed away from Germany had drifted slowly back out of the edges of her mind.

(The two of them just laying around on the lounge, Misato calling in sick and Asuka casually skipping a NERV test or two by the simple expedient of shutting off her cell-phone, just so they could spend a day chatting to each other as they feasted on horribly unhealthy junk food no other guardian would have let her _dare _touch while they both laughed at pre second-impact soap operas on TV)-

(Her desperate -and ultimately futile- attempt to maintain her typical businesslike demeanor as Misato mockingly mimed the new 'evil German scientist' on the Evangelion team with exaggerated gestures and movement behind his back during a synch test, causing her to crack up with so much laughter they had scrapped the entire test; both of them earning a pointed dressing down from the Base Commander and his mildly insulted lead scientist that had been_ so _worth it)-

(The mix of embarrassed pleasure and pride as Misato -alone out of all her guardians- with the small NERV contingent had cheered her on wildly as she was awarded her degree from the Chancellor of the University of Munich)-

(And the day Misato had left for Tokyo-3, eavesdropping as she always morbidly did when one guardian handed her over to the next with undisguised relief…only to hear Misato instead threaten this new Kaji with a directness that shocked her, of _very_ specific consequences to his person if he treated her with anything but the _greatest_ love and respect…and somehow _knowing_ Misato meant every single word and every single threat)-

No…

In the longline of people who had at various times claimed the title of her guardian, _and_ despite her many –many many _many_ – flaws, Misato Katsuragi stood as one of only two people who, for whatever idiotic reason, had never done the 'smart thing' and just given up on her and walked away…because she _really_ _cared_ _about_ _her _and refused to compromise on that, irrespective of how hard she knew living together had been for them at times…

…Much like the _other _utterly impossible person she lived with.

Shinji had proven himself worthy of the trust she had hesitantly placed in him by keeping his hands to himself last night, but more than any physical issues of them sharing the same bed…

Behind the 'poster boy's' calm, self assured, smiling and downright _smug_ persona, was a scared child who had fears and nightmares just like anyone -like _her_. They really _were _two of a kind in so many ways that she realized she couldn't _help _herself from drifting closer to him the longer they spent in close proximity.

But this morning, her pride had put its foot down as it had forced its way back into the drivers seat after being pushed aside for far too many weeks now, at least where Shinji was concerned, saving her from crashing over the edge blindly, now at least that she knew there _was _a human being somewhere inside the Third Child.

She had to prove to Ikari once and for all that she, Asuka Langley Soryu, was _not _some 'second fiddle Second Child' to the _glorious_ poster boy of NERV. That despite everything, shewas _not_ going to –nor would she _ever_- bow down before him; that she could _crush_ him under her stylish Italian boots whenever she was so inclined to do so.

And then, _only_ then_, _after she had proven her place,could she even _think _about trying to honestly look at her feelings about Shinji which even before the dance had been confused enough to loose her more then a couple of hours sleep.

And _since _the dance, let alone last night…

But in the chaotic sea of her feelings regarding Shinji Ikari this morning, one thought continued to dominate and she clung to it tightly.

_Crush Shinji into _his_ place_, _and it will all fall _into_ place…_somehow_._

And as Rei had called and asked where she was, she had just happened to walk past an old, somewhat hard used looking building…

***

A few seconds ago, Shinji had been quietly wondering if going looking for Asuka had actually been one of his smarter ideas; that he should just go and try to get back to work himself given that Asuka was apparently in one of 'those' moods again…but her last statement, delivered with a look of such utterly _smug_ superiority, had finally caused his usually rather subdued ego to come up swinging, brutally kicking aside his sense of self preservation and firmly taking the drivers seat.

"Not really, I just don't see the point of it…unless you want to make it _interesting._"

Asuka's body expressed no more reaction then a slight tilt of her head at his response, but there was _definitely_ a flash in her eyes at the not-so-subtlechallenge.

"And pray tell, what did you have in mind, _Third_?"

"Oh lets just make a little bet shall we? Say when I beat you, _you _have to do all my laundry work for the next week."

Asuka's smirk turned…dangerous. It was a look that _long_ experience and suffering told him to be rather wary of, the same look a falcon spying a tasty rodent far below on the ground and carefully flexing its claws in preparation to swoop might wear, but feeling uncharacteristically bold he held his ground and even went so far as to place the slightest twitch of a smirk of his own on his face, throwing down the gauntlet and just _daring _her to-

"And when _I _beat _you_," she retorted, not breaking eye contact. "_You_ have to cook _me_ whatever _I_ want, for the next week. _No questions asked_".

The air between them seethed as their egos crashed, rolled and recoiled against each other. The gauntlet had been thrown down, the prizes named incidental to the gloating rights for a week that would be bestowed on one to use against the other, a prize worth far more to either of them then the others increasingly considerable bank account-

"And what if _I_ win?" a third voice softly but pointedly entered the conversation, snapping them out of the moment, the Second and Third Child turning in perfect unison to look at the First, who was actually looking mildly interested at this whole utterly insane idea, in a 'Rei' sort of way…

"You won't," Asuka retorted, her smirk on the verge of becoming a full throttled grin. "But if you _want_ to play…name your prize."

Rei appeared to really consider it for a moment, tilting her head ever so slightly in thought before coming to a conclusion, her scarlet gaze narrowing to levelly return Asuka's smirk.

"I would have both of you; prepare a dinner for me, tonight, in my apartment".

Asuka's smirk mutated into a slightly quizzical look, no doubt wondering why Rei was letting both of them off with something that actually sounded rather easy, but typically, she just leapt at the 'mistake' before she could change her mind.

"Done!" she announced for both of them with a flourish after his slight nod at her, whirling and stalking down the path outside the old looking building, Shinji none the less hearing her add something that sounded suspiciously like 'not that it matters' under her breath as he and Rei followed. An old fashioned key-locked door bared entrance, but it proved no match for the Second Child -mostly due to the fact that no-one had bothered to lock it- and Asuka hurried them inside, securing the door shut behind them.

***

_MELCHIOR_, which had been given the duty today of tracking the children among the thousands of other 'housekeeping' tasks it performed, had no remote sensors in the pre-NERV buildings area to log the Children vanishing into 'Utility Vehicle Shed 16-Bravo'. It _did _have the perimeter of the area locked down however, meaning there was _no_ way the Children could come back out of the area without being tagged, so the fact it had lost positive tracking on them wasn't much of a concern to the semi-sentient mainframe.

So when three quad-bike ground-keeping vehicles came screaming out of the utility area two minutes later like bats out of hell, it _did _take a look as a matter of course. But as the heavy motorcycle helmets hid all key features from the facial recognition software and the old black and white camera prevented a skin tone/clothes match, a positive ID could not be determined.

Taking a few nanoseconds to investigate, the mainframe checked its files carefully before firmly deciding there was no reason for NERV personnel under the 'Evangelion Pilot' category to be using vehicles assigned to 'Geofront Maintenance' personnel. And so, 'happy' that it had logically deduced the integrity of its perimeter, _MELCHIOR_ retuned to waiting - with the infinite patience of a computer - for the children to re-emerge as it knew they would, sooner or later…

***

The rules were simple.

First rule; the pilot to get to the big white support tower for Geofront train track 16, then to the fountain in front of headquarters, won.

Second rule; there _weren't_ any other rules.

The Second Child had taken an early lead as they screamed away from the maintenance buildings, driving with an ease and precision that lead Shinji to conclude she _must _have used a quad bike before, which spoke rather poorly of his chances against her. By contrast, it was all _he _could do to stay in his seat as his bike screamed and bounced across the rolling hills that made up this part of the Geofront, startled insects and birds diving out of their way**, **their peaceful mornings rudely interrupted by the scream of internal combustion engines.

Asuka was heading in a mostly straight line for the distant train tower, 'mostly' as she tended to simply smash her way through the plant life in a very 'Asuka' way as she kept her foot to the preverbal floor. He on the other hand was steadily loosing ground as he tried to work up the courage to increase his throttle bit by bit, his fear of doing something as insanely stupid as this stunt clashing violently with his raging, almost _primal _desire to floor the throttle and say to hell with it.

Because, he realized with a sudden start, he _did _want to win. He wanted to win _badly_…but it wasn't really about _defeating_ Asuka.

No, he wanted to _prove_ himself worthyof her, to show her that despite what she always said, he couldmatch her challenge for challenge and stride for stride. He knew she would never, _could _never truly accept anyone that couldn't meet her own high standards as any kind of equal, and _that _knowledge forced his right hand –against the screaming voices of self preservation in his head- to inch his throttle forward towards the redline. And slowly, amazingly, as they bounced across a relatively open grassy field for a few seconds, he started to close the gap with her.

_My quad's faster _he realized, the observation spiking his neurotransmitters to dangerous levels as Asuka tore through a line of carefully maintained shrubs ahead of him, his hands turning his bike automatically to follow her as his mind worked furiously on his strategy. _Okay, okay. In the open areas, I can make up for her - WHOA!_

Shinji held on for dear life as the ground vanished on the other side of the shrubs, his screaming quad leaping into the air for a heart stopping ten meters before crashing down onto the reverse slope of the hill with a terrific jolt that came terrifyingly close to throwing him off, before he recovered, the all too heavy foam lined helmet he was wearing snapping his head around violently as he struggled to manhandle his bike back on course.

Asuka, of course, had landed expertly with a light touch, extending her lead towards the Geofront Lake…but she still took a second to shoot a look back over her shoulder. And even though she was wearing a full faced helmet, he could _feel _the smirk she was directing at him before she turned back, her auburn mane streaming wildly behind her in the slipstream like a war banner…

_She did that on _purpose_! Okay, that is _it!

Gritting his teeth, he opened his throttle, and with a terrific roar, his bike slowly –far too slowly- started to eat up the distance between them on the open hillside and into the oddly smelling cloud of chlorophyll mixed with hydrocarbons left in her wake as he screamed in hot pursuit towards the lake.

***

A quick glance by Asuka in her right hand mirror showed her competition steadily closing the gap, despite the fact that she had her engine redlined and she was crouched as low as possible over the bike to minimize wind resistance. She had realized within about fifteen seconds of starting off that engine noises from her vehicle were not _quite _as tight and polished as it they should be, feeling a slight stuttering hesitation when she slammed the throttle forward, and glancing back, she could see that Shinji sure as hell wasn't suffering the same problem…but that fact simply invigorated her, raising the challenge to a whole new level as she arrowed for the tree line down by the Geofront lake.

Ikari had managed to close the gap to perhaps three vehicle lengths by the time she crashed into the well maintained forest of pine trees along this part of the sparkling lake, keeping the throttle pushed firmly to the limit as she pushed her hair trigger reflexes to _their_ limits. Year after year after _year _of NERV training had sculpted her into the perfect pilot for the perfect weapon; her reaction times, motor control, short term memory and visual acuity were unmatched by anyone in her age group and precious few people outside it, and now, those same skills let her unerringly thread a path through the relatively light density forest at speeds most people would consider insane, her heart pumping in her chest as she simply lived in the exhilaration of the chase she was leading Shinji on, bursting back through the tree line some time later into an open field lined with flowers she did not really notice as her wide tires tore through them, bouncing down to the enormous white tower.

It wasn't really that impressive up close excepting for its size, designed to serve a strictly utilitarian function after all, but it _did _serve its purpose as the halfway mark and she whipped around it, taking a second on the relatively open ground to take a look at her back trail, spotting Shinji and Rei as they tore out of the distant tree line and roared down towards the tower. She quickly calculated she had opened up a good twenty or even thirty second lead on them…and she even more quickly calculated she would need every _second _of it, as she braced, crashing through a final wall of foliage onto a well maintained Geofront access road that ringed this part of the lake, hunching back over her handlebars and pushing her sorely abused –and now rather vine covered- bike for all it was worth.

***

The road had the official name 'Access Route – GF 16-65-A-West'. Not that anyone really cared, even those few people who used the road these days -as opposed to the more convenient car trains- just called it the 'lake ring road'. There had in fact been some recent interest expressed in renaming some of the roads inside the Geofront something a little more rational, but it was unlikely the proposals would get out of the zoning committee anytime this side of Third Impact.

Regardless of whatever name had been, was or would be assigned to the road, in Shinji's mind, it would always be the location Asuka, in a typically grandiose gesture, had shown the JSSDF how much she _appreciated_ them trying to kill her by tossing that enormous warship from the lake across at – and annihilating - an entire armored company in a rather pointed expression of her feelings on their actions on the last day of their lives.

And the more some things changed for Shinji, the more others stayed the same. Asuka, once again, _owned_ this road.

By the time he had skidded down onto the road with Rei in close pursuit –simply following the path of destruction Asuka had created through the hedges let him make remarkably good time- Asuka had already grabbed a good twenty second lead on them.

_But_ if he was remembering this part of the Geofront correctly, there was only one real access point across the narrow part of the lake to the Headquarters, a low suspension bridge that ran over the top of the main NERV freight depot, a place where incoming deliveries from rail or freight were offloaded, then shuttled down into the western warehouses by enormous cargo lifts that rivaled EVA access shafts for size…and the road they were on looped the _long_ _way_ around its perimeter and up onto the aforementioned bridge, across which lay Headquarters and their objective.

And he knew that over such a long distance on the most direct route _and _on a real road, he would have enough time to catch up to Asuka, overtake her, and win.

_You gave it your best shot Asuka, just like you _always_ do _he thought fighting back a grin as he closed on her, meter after slow meter. _But this time, just for _once _damn it, I win!_

He held onto that thought, repeating it like a mantra as he slowly closed the gap…until Asuka screamed right past the prominent signs in Japanese, German and English that clearly pointed out that you _really _wanted to turn right at this point for access to NERV Headquarters proper.

_What in the hell is…oh no…she _wouldn't…

NERV's primary loading dock was a bustling hive of activity almost twenty four hours a day. One of the airborne train tracks that descended into the Geofront passed right through the depot, alongside hundreds of loading docks actually set some distance below the level of the Geofront lake; swarming with people in both the tan colored uniforms of NERV personnel and an eclectic mixture of civilian clothing, all moving with brisk purpose as everything from armor plating for Evangelions to the food for the cafeteria was lowered into Central Dogma, part of the never ending cycle of logistical support that kept the huge complex running.

More critically to Shinji's current thoughts; the depot had an on/off ramp to that same suspension bridge into the headquarters that would cut out almost eighty percent of the last stretch for Asuka, _if_ she dared to-

Yup, she dared.

Asuka's quad bike blew past the guard shack at the edge of the depot without even slowing down, a NERV security guard jumping out in surprise and anger, raising a radio to his mouth to try and sound some kind of alarm…before he dove right back inside in a panic as Shinji damn near ran him down in hot pursuit, forewarned by the screaming horn just in the nick of time followed by Rei, the hapless man leaning out one last time to make sure no-one was following before finally raising the radio again and screaming loudly into it as the trio of bikes roared down the ramp into the docks.

***

_I…am going to lose_

The statement that passed through her mind should not have come as much of a surprise to Rei.

Indeed, a cursory analysis of her present situation as she passed into the freight depot showed she was well behind both the Second and Third. Combined with the fact they had proven to be surprisingly skilled with their vehicles, the odds of her being able to overtake them, when she took into account their aggressiveness and complete willingness to violate NERV regulations –she had counted at least twenty three so far - were at best, remote.

No, the _facts_ of the situation were not in question from any rational perspective…but Rei, for once, wasn't feeling entirely rational right now. The oddest sensations were slowly edging up from under the blanket suppression she generally placed on her emotions, sensations annoyingly powerful and aggressively insistent…all saying that she should just go ahead and win the race _anyway_.

To say the feelings were peculiar would be something of an understatement as far as the First child was concerned.

She had chosen to participate in the challenge put forward by the Second for reasons even _she_ did not entirely understand, but she was participating none the less, a somewhat more irrational act then the norm for her, that had left her frowning behind the tough plastic of her helmet.

More interesting for her however, was the astonishing…'enthusiasm' her fellow pilots were showing for this stunt. _Something_ was driving the Second and Third to accept _breathtaking_ levels of danger for such a paltry reward, something she had remained ignorant of as she pursued them, not loosing ground, but not gaining any either…

Until suddenly and without warning, as the finish line drew close, an incessant thought started to push its way into the front of her mind, incredibly distracting and immensely _annoying_. It was more than an emotion, almost a sensation, like an itch across all of her skin…

And if someone had asked her to put it into words, the best she could have done would have been 'I do not _want _to lose…and I am not_ going_ to lose'.

Strange.

She had no reason to _want _to fail; victory was always a preferred outcome to defeat of course…but this _feeling _went well beyond anything she had ever felt before. In _this_ contest, she did _not_ simply wish to perform to her full potential, satisfied in the knowledge -win or lose- that she had done everything she could.

She wished to _win_…but it could not be for her 'stakes', a meal cooked in her house...could it?

Even she barely understood what had led her to claim such a reward for her victory, the idea had simply hit her as she had 'drawn a blank' trying to think of something she desired from the Second and Third, that they did not already freely give her by their very presence, nor was there anything else they were in a position to provide that she desired.

It was also rather illogical to desire them to cook for her; she was perfectly capable of preparing her own food. Nor could it be that she wanted to spend time around the Second or Third, she interacted with them on a daily basis, often for extended periods of time…

("A home is a reflection of your personality, a place of comfort and refuge, a place to relax and _enjoy_ yourself, for the _sake_ of enjoying yourself when needed!")-

…and with a sudden feeling of mild shock that hit her like the fist of an enraged Evangelion, she finally understood.

She did interact interacted with her fellow pilots at school, NERV and even increasingly at Captain Katsuragi's residence…but her _home_ remained empty. In fact she could recall the number of times the Second and Third had spent more then a minute at her house on one hand…

She had spent years alone, even while surrounded by other people, indifferent to them, her home was no different from school or NERV.

Now she was indeed spending increasing amounts of time at the Captains house, but it was almost as if both of her fellow pilots were subtly repelled from _hers_.

And she finally understood –and accepted- as she roared down into the freight depot, that this actually _annoyed_ her.

The irony of finding an empty, silent apartment increasingly uncomfortable after having spent a great deal of her life in such a state was not _entirely_ lost on Rei Ayanami. But with her days now increasingly filled with social interaction of bewildering types that she was actually finding she enjoyed, or at the lease found fascinating, she couldn't help but find in comparison, the long hours in her apartment by herself…quiet.

Too quiet.

And if she knew anything about the Second and Third; time with them was anything _but _quiet, for good or ill.

Thus, she _would _win this race.

Snapping her attention back to the race, perhaps two seconds having passed as her introspection passed across her mind, Rei felt a surge of adrenalin blast through her nervous system…and for once, she did not suppress it, but accepted it, letting it permeate through her body and expand her mind, noting the other curious and intoxicating effects as time appeared to slow down…

She inhaled sharply.

She gripped the handlebars tighter.

She gritted her teeth ever so slightly as her eyes narrowed-

And in a sudden collision of possibilities and calculations at a speed even the Second Child would have been –grudgingly- impressed by, Rei had the answer.

And so she slammed on her breaks as the Second and Third screamed under the bridge and headed right for the loop road, skidding around with a rare grunt as she reversed her course to get as much straight line acceleration room as she could…

***

I AM NOT GOING TO LOSE!

Asuka Langley Soryu _was _the kind of person for whom adrenalin was an old friend, an overload of stimulants burning through her bloodstream hence doing little more than stoking the fires of her concentration to new heights as she brutally pulled her vehicle through the sweeping 270 degree turn off the spiral ramp. She was dancing on a knifes of control, a zone where the slightest miscalculation would have led to utter disaster as her tires screamed in protest and her gearbox begged for mercy, but she held her course and rocketed like a stone from a sling back onto the main highway, bouncing and skidding across to the left hand side and leaving a trail of leaves and vines in her wake as she pushed up the bridge ramp, towards the enormous mass of the pyramid beyond.

So this was it. There were no more tricks up her sleeves, no more maneuvers she could pull off; it was a straight drag race for the finish line between her and Shinji, head to head as it had to be where now _he _had the indisputable advantage over her.

Risking a glance over her shoulder, she simply couldn't help but let loose a scream of frustration, _he was_ _still right there! _Right behind her and slowly, with every second that passed, closing the gap on her right…

_Damn it! Damn it to hell! Damn _him _to hell!_

No matter _what _she did, Shinji just kept closing in on her. Oh occasionally she could pull ahead, or at least _think_ she had…but sooner or later, she turned around to have another look and there he was, even closer than before. It was always the same with him and…

Wait, was she still thinking about the race?

A loud horn snapped her attention forward where it belonged and her eyes bulged inside her helmet as the dynamic of their crazy race again changed in a second. A rather large truck –a fucking _gigantic ­truck _in fact_- _washeading down the right lane straight at them, probably heading for the freight dock they had just left. _She _was safe in the left lane, but to her triumphant delight, she realized Shinji would have to decelerate right in behind her, providing her the last few seconds of the lead she needed to win!

At least in theory.

Except…in her peripheral vision…

Unbelieving, her heart sinking, she turned her head slightly-

Shinji was _not _slowing down. Despite being only ten seconds away from certain _death_, he was still trying to pass her on the outside and get in front of her!

Was he _nuts?_

There was no way in hell he could make it, the Baka! He was going to get himself killed unless he backed right the hell off!

Continuing to stare at him in disbelief as she kept _her_ throttle firmly pushed to the max, through chance or destiny she saw his helmet turn to face hers. It was not easy to see _him_ under the Plexiglas faceplate but…

She saw his eyes.

For a fraction of a second before he turned away, she saw his eyes. And in that moment she knew that he wouldn't, he _couldn't _back down from this. For Shinji Ikari, defeat was just as impossible an outcome as it was for _her_, he desperately wanted –needed- to win for some reason as utterly remote from his demand for laundry service as _hers _was for his cooking.

The air somehow thickened around her as she turned back, noting that the truck was approaching almost leisurely, as if time itself was slowing to some impossible crawl. The roar of her engine seemed to somehow deepen, painfully lowering infrequency to a sort of mournful rumble as, with agonizing slowness but implacable destiny, the truck continued to grow larger. And despite the almost delicate puffs of smoke coming from its wheels that suggested the driver was slamming the breaks, she knew it would not be anything like enough. Shinji was barely centimeters in front of her; he had nowhere near enough time to get ahead and across to avoid the truck, his only option was to _slow down _and get _behind _her…

Of course…_she _could always lose. All it would take would be a tap on her breaks and he would jump in front of her, out of danger, and win the race…

Her pride at once screamed defiance at _that _idea. He was _not in danger_ the jerk of a moron; _all_ he had to do was the only logical and rational thing; just duck in behind her and he would be fine. _She _was driving on the right side of the road, _she _was in the lead and _he _was the one who had to back down and if he didn't, it was his own fault!

She _had _to win this, she _would _win this and there was no way in hell _she _would flinch now when she _knew _he would have to first!

Because if she did, if she sacrificed her victory for Shinji Ikari, it would just prove once and for all that she was _nothing _next to him. For all her boasting and all her claims of being the best, well, this was her chance to put her money where her mouth was and she would be _damned_ if she would let herself be defeatedby this child …

But in perfect balance and opposition to her pride, her mind was screaming rather loudly, asking what kind of a childishbitch _she _was if she would let her pride put Shinji in _mortal_ _danger_ over a stupid _game _of all things? Was she, Asuka Langley Soryu _really _willing to risk letting Shinji Ikari _die_ for the sake of her winning this race? Was it really worth _so much _to her that she would take that chance?

The answer to that question became redundant as with a lour roar, Rei Ayanami majestically, _impossibly_ ascended on the left side of the bridge, ascending up from the ground below in defiance of all the laws of physics pertained to Quad Bikes as Asuka knew them, 'floating' over the guard rail just shy of the first of the thick suspension cables directly in front of her.

Asuka was already slamming the breaks and damn near losing control as Rei 'slowly' drifted down, 'kissing' the road surface without even the slightest bounce, loss of control or backward glance before accelerating away for the end of the bridge as Shinji neatly slipped in front of her, mere seconds before the truck thundered past, the rumble of its passage somehow shattering the slow motion existence she had been trapped in and restoring time to its normal flow.

But all the adrenalin had left her in the same instant, leaving her feeling hollowed out and tired, all the wonderful peace and vigor she had felt since waking up this morning vanishing as fast as Rei down the reverse slope of the bridge as she let her bike roll to a stop in last place.

It was a slight surprise therefore when she raised her head to see that Shinji was still right next to her on his own bike, not charging off after Rei. In fact, he was working his helmet off with some difficulty – probably to gloat- and she sighed, forcing the best defiant expression on her face she could muster as she reached up to take her own hot and heavy helmet off, finding some small enjoyment in the brisk lake air as the two of them stared at each other for several seconds, until Shinji broke the silence and turned to look towards Headquarters.

"She's _nuts_".

His statement was blunt, to the point and filled with a mixture of terror and astonishment, his gaze leaving no doubts as to who he was talking about as he reached up absently to wipe away the sweat that had stuck his fringe to his forehead. "Who the hell does she think she is, Evil Knievel?"

Frowning slightly at the reference, Asuka edged her own quad over and glanced back and down into the Freight Depot…and couldn't help but notice the fifty or so people standing around pointing and waving excitedly just under the bridge.

_Okay, she _is _nuts_ Asuka silently agreed as she studied the scenes of chaos below. Using a two story Car Transporter as a glorified ramp to _jump_ _onto the bridge_?

That either took a complete lack of a sense of self preservation, or…

No, that was about _all_ it would take come to think of it.

"Well, it looks like we both owe Rei dinner," she finally said, her respect for the First Child nudging up several notches as she stretched, wincing as she felt the first of the aches she would be feeling tomorrow from crashing across the terrain the way she had, her wince only increasing as she studied the countless minor scratches the terrain had inflicted on her arms and legs in retribution for her damage to it. "I have to give it to the First, I never saw it coming, but I'll be damned if she didn't pull it off".

"Yeah, neither did I," Shinji agreed, his tone becoming oddly melancholy as he gazed down the reaming length of the bridge. "Though I should have; Ayanami can actually get a little, uh, _excessive_ at things if she really puts her mind to it".

Asuka didn't really have anything to say to that, so she _didn't_ say anything as with a hiss, thud and a rumble of a super-flywheel engine, the truck behind them shuddered back into motion, its driver apparently satisfied that he hadn't killed any Evangelion pilots and quickly deciding to clear the area before Section 2 arrived to ask pointed questions.

And as the truck rolled off and left them alone, she simply couldn't help herself, not knowing if she would like where this led, but just unable to drive off without saying something-

"Why?"

"Why what?" Shinji replied to her demand in a tone of confusion, but she could _see in _his eyes and _hear _in his voice a sort of wary caution; he knew _exactly _what she meant.

"Don't play the Baka Ikari" she snarled softly, letting her Quads' engine cut out like his; the silence amplifying her attitude dangerously as she turned her narrowing gaze on him. "I need to know _why_".

_Why did and do you so need to _beat_ me, to _defeat _me, to _humiliate _me…why damn it?_

***

Shinji tried to stare down Asuka but as always it was a hopeless battle against her dominating gaze and he couldn't help but flinch away as he again felt himself walking on a dangerous tightrope, his mind spinning plausible sounding lies he could tell her to get her off his case…

…And it might have been the exhilaration of the race still pumping in his bloodstream, or it might have been something left over from last night that pushed past his own barriers, but he raised his head back up and told Asuka the truth.

Just for once.

"I did want to win, I wanted it _badly_" he admitted in a low voice. And gathering courage he didn't think he had –facing down Angels was Childs play compared to looking _her _in the face when she was in a mood like this- he forced himself to return her crystal blue gaze directly.

He was not entirely sure how she would react to what he was about to say, let alone if she would believe him. But in complete honesty, none of this had been about her in his mind, but about _him_. _He _needed to prove he could be as confident and unflinching as _she _was; that he could summon the strength to keep fighting the unknown yet known future ahead of them, that he would protect her -even from herself- and that he would never leave her alone to face the demons and darkness lurking in her mind. Not again.

"But it wasn't…it was not about _beating _you Asuka," he _finally_ forced himself to stutter to her face, Asuka as always the one person –except perhaps his Father- who could push him so completely off stride with nothing more than a look. "You know, despite our bet and everything…I…I just wanted to prove that maybe, possibly, I might be almost as good and as brave as you at _something, _just once. I'm not as strong as you, or as smart, or as well trained…" and he couldn't help but sigh. "I just wanted to earn your respect."

Her gaze didn't so much as flicker at his confession, but somehow he felt its intensity notch up and again he flinched away from it feeling like he was under a gigantic microscope as she studied him, finding that he just didn't have anything else to add to his awkward explanation of why he had just played chicken with a Mack Truck.

Oddly though, after doing something he would have decried as absurdly insane on any other day of the week, he found he had a whole new perspective on why Asuka had held her ground against the 15th Angel, despite the _incredible _pain she had felt and utter hopelessness of her situation, screaming that she would rather _die _than admit _defeat_...

Asuka though simply turned away from him, looking out over the lake with nothing more than a token "I see" in reply, the rumble of the rapidly departing truck sounding so much louder in the silence between them as they sat unmoving on the bridge.

***

Asuka stared at the sparkling lake looking for all the world as if she had suddenly found something astonishingly interesting about the rather boring body of water that made it worthy of her complete and utter attention.

In reality, her focus was simply a front to hide her churning feelings as she felt herself shakento the core from Shinji's stuttering, hopelessly clumsy, but oddly direct and honest admission to her.

_She_ had wanted to win this race for reasons even she didn't entirely understand but chief among them was that she _had _to prove to Shinji Ikari - Mister damn Perfect Pilot Poster Child - that she was _not_ and would _never _be some hopeless fan girl following along in his wake, that she was just as good - _better - _then he was. She had to be able to hold her head high in the mirror _and _in front of him as they…they…well, whateverhappened next, she would go in with her pride firmly established.

_And _Shinji Ikari_ had wanted the same thing from _her_, all this time_?

Insane didn't even begin to describe how absurd the situation was, but none the less…

Shinji Ikari looked up to...nein, he _worshiped _her. And he did so because _he_ thought _she_ was some impossibly perfect example of human courage and strength?

And no matter how much her ego quietly suggested it was only right and proper that Ikari worshiped the very ground she walked upon, the rest of her mind told her ego to just _shut up_ for once as she reeled from his confession as she desperately tried to think, reflecting on her fellow…what?

Pilot?

Student?

Roommate?

Shinji Ikari. The rookie whose first step in an Evangelion had been unflinchingly into mortal combat, because he had no choice if he wanted to save Rei's life?

Shinji Ikari. The child who had actually managed to come to terms with his Mothers death and move on with his life, while she was still _dominated _by the memory of her loss all those years ago_? _

Shinji Ikari. The prodigy whose skill at piloting and absurdly high synchronization ratio mocked all her years of blood, sweat and tears as she had clawed her way point by agonizing point up the synch ratio chart?

Shinji Ikari. The Pilot who had, after they had defeated the 7th Angel together, softly told her that when they worked together as one, they could do amazing things after she had made a fool of herself?

Shinji Ikari. The boy…the _person_, who had - and continued to- ignore everything she did to push him away out of a raw primal fear of letting himget close enough to hurt her…perhaps because he was a _true_ friend, one who was just too stubborn to take a hint when it was good for him?

Shinji Ikari. The person - the _man _-who had held her with a paradoxically gentle firmness during that slow dance as she had all but collapsed helplessly into his arms, remembering now she had knowneven then that he respected her enough for her to trust him with her very soul as she had let herself fall into the music…

_THAT group was in awe of HER?_

And _yet_…grudgingly, her mind drifted back to last night. To the hidden, 'other' Shinji Ikari she had briefly stumbled across; the fallible, terrified, and all too _human_ Shinji quite distinct from the Third Childeveryone raved on about, hidden away behind the smooth, impossibly confident persona she had always seen on his face like a mask.

Shinji really _was_ far more like her then she had ever thought…and the irony of that thought wasn't lost on her.

Both of them desperately seeking the others respect, both of them desperately afraid of showing it to the other without _them_ showing it first, leading to both of them accepting this whole stupid race idea of hers…

Almost instinctively, she felt her pride again rise up, this time with an edge of desperation as it pushed her to turn back to Shinji and seize the opening he had given her to put him in his place once and for all –albeit gently- and assume her position as rightful leader of their little pack...

("Some days, I'm starting to think you're growing up a little too fast Asuka…")-

…and almost in counterpoint, Misato's voice from this morning echoed back across her mind as it belatedly 'clicked' what Misato had been talking about.

And perhaps it was about time she started to act as mature as she always _claimed_ she was. She had all the proof she could possibly need that Shinji respected her –which had been the whole _point _of this race- so…

***

"…You won".

The voice was almost alien to his ears despite the fact that it came from vocal cords he was very familiar with. It was strange enough in fact to draw his attention back to Asuka from his increasingly deep introspection; the words just didn't make _any_ sense to him, to say nothing of the fact that the low, soft voice they had been delivered in that was categorically _not_ the vibrant, piercing energy he was usually subjected to from the Second Child.

"What?" was all he could think to say in return, convinced he had not heard her right. As if Asuka would _ever _say-

"I said that you _won,_" Asuka repeated, and her tone slowly caused his disbelief to crystallize into pure terror as she turned to face him…though it drained just as quickly into relief, then confusion as he saw she was _not _wearing an expression of self loathing or hate as he had feared from the voice.

If anything, her expression was almost…

"How do you figure?" he asked carefully, blindly feeling his way towards the trap he knew had to be here somewhere. "Rei came first, and you know technically, we haven't even finished. _And_ the only reason I got in front of you is because ofRei's crazy-"

"No".

-And that one word delivered in such a tone of utter finality shut up him as effectively as a gunshot to his heart, Asuka staring pointedly at him for several long and painfully silent seconds before she continued past his interruption.

"I flinched," she said, in a slightly more normal tone as she crossed her arms in front of her. "It was only a half second, a _millisecond_ even, but I was hitting my breaks _before_ Rei appeared, Ikari. You…" she shook her head slowly, something almost like a _very_ slight smirk appearing on her face as she did.

"You held your nerve in the face of that truck…and I lost mine. Credit where credit is due Third Child, you did it. You beat me fair and square. And as for respect…" he voice trailed off and even the slight smirk on her face fell away to an expression that was about a serious as Asuka ever got as she leaned in slightly to close the distance between them. "Do you think I'm a slut?"

Shinji felt his body jerk backwards from Asuka in pure shock at the bald, blunt and downright _direct _question. If not for the fact that he was still sitting on his Quad, he probably would have fallen to the ground at the demand, his jaw dropping open in shock and his eyes bulging out of his head as he tried desperately to wrap his head around the words that had come out of her mouth.

"No! How…how could you ask me something like _that?" _he demanded in a voice about an octave higher than he usually had it as he stuttered out his panicked denial.

"Mostly to make sure I got that exact response from you," she replied in a matter of fact tone. "Do you think I'm the kind of person who would get into just _any _guys bed like I got into yours last night? How many people do you think I _trust_ enough to sleep in their bed with them like that, without question?"

It was clearly a rhetorical question, he didn't _dare_ answer it.

She appeared to be happy with his lack of a response though, probably because she recognized he was still utterly out of it from her 'slut' comment, lifting her eyes to meet his gaze and tilting her head slightly as if studying his face for the first time.

"You're still a stooge Third Child, but you're a _good _class of stooge. And for whatever it's worth, I do respect you…Shinji. Now that doesn't mean I can't get utterly _pissed off _with you at times…but you've _earned_ my respect respect over the time I've gotten to know you…and my friendship".

"A…arigato" he managed to stutter his reply out as a smile and a deep blush he couldn't help pushed its way onto his face at her words. Asuka in turn gave him a tight smile of her own, her eyes shining with an unbroken spirit despite her confession of her 'loss', before she turned away and placed her helmet onto her head, starting her engine back up before turning back, as if suddenly remembering she had forgotten something.

"Oh by the way Third Child regardless of winning or losing here, our agreement was 'if I beat _you_ to that fountain_'_. We have to cook Rei dinner as we lost to _her_, but _our _bet is independent of that. Tschüs"

And with a roar, Asuka sped off down the bridge.

His ego held him in place for a good ten seconds or so as he rejoiced in the feelings Asuka had admitted to him. It was more then she had _ever _admitted in their first life together, to his face at least, and right now, he felt so confident, so _strong _that he would have taken an oath he could have probably knocked out Angels by spitting at them and powered his Evangelion on ego alone…

Wait. What had that been about their bets…?

His eyes went wide.

That sneaky German son of a-

_

* * *

_**Yeah, sorry about that.**

First the usual stuff. As always a huge amount of thanks goes to Academia Nut for all his patience and help as I bashed my head against the keyboard. Honourable nods of thanks also go to Brain Caster on SB for his help with the German language and a few other people.

Oh and there have been quite a few PM's I've missed replying to, I do apologise if that is the case, been horribly busy when I see them. Feel free to send them again if I have not replied as yet. I do recall 2-3 different people have cheerfully offered to send me their own heavily proofread versions of my fanfic...and I'm not sure what scares me more. The horrors my lack of proofreading –especially of the earlier chapters- has caused, or the fact that there are people who *like* this fanfic so much they have actually made their own 'clean' versions!!

For the record, I do actually have a plan to write a 'directors cut' version of OMWF well down the track, I even started and posted the first few chapters on Evafics dot org, but I've since put that on hold as the future events I wanted to better set up were just too much in flux in my mind to make it work...but. Anyway.

This chapter was never supposed to be anything LIKE this. This chapter was SUPPOSED to be a core 5K words of a larger chapter, which would include the battle with the 8th Angel.

Unfortunately, I **just don't bloody know when to stop writing!** It just kept growing and growing, ultimately with nothing happening the whole time and I apologise for making you all read through it. Academia strongly suggested slicing chunks out of it -correctly- after I kept whining about how long it had gotten, but I'm just too much of a coward to make the hard decisions to REALLY cut back. I DID cut about 8K words, including Shinji finally coming head to head with the Committee, the kids at the Airport, the night at Rei's and a few other bits, some of that stuff will make it into the next chapter...

Uch.

Let this be a strong lesson to writers out there; 'MORE' is not always 'BETTER'. This chapter which is about 65% fluff, 25% content and 10% insanity, give or take...  
It's the ultimate result of what happens when you take something supposed to be 5K words worth of material and just keep stretching until it gets silly...

Moving on. The next chapter will be much better, I've been looking forward to getting into another Angel battle chapter, in depth, for a while now. The 6th Angel with Asuka's introduction was really the last big battle, the 7th barely counted as a skirmish. Plus there is more cool stuff to happen in it with the kids, though the 10th Angel chapter after that is where the fun really starts to take off with the adults, and we see some of the major players move some pieces around on their chess board...and I'm sure it won't take a genus to guess when those events will take place.

And as a minor conselation prize, I have a DVD boxset to give away.

While waiting for Rebuild of Evangelion to come out on DVD in Aus -when I found out from RedAnt about half a year ago that it would be later November I damn near went crazy, but we're almost there- I picked up the Platinum collection of Evangelion, the boxset with all the special eddition DVD's. best thing about them has to be the 5.1 remixed sound, DAMN those Evangelion vs Angel battles sound AWESOME in 5.1 digital, just WOW. The picture quality is also top notch and they have cut 90% of the adds when you put a DVD in that drove me NUTS. Though I have to say that some of the directors cut episodes have the oddest look to them. And the new English dub of Kaworu is just annoying, I select the normal edition for that episode...and it might just be me, but the directors cuts often look rather ... 'cartoony'.

And the directors commentary is just awesome. And the special Tiffiny Grant feature is just freaky, I thought I was obsessive about Evangelion, but DAMN. She is very cool though, and still my fav voice in all of Evangelion, she just made Asuka come to life for me so perfectly...and made her German curses at Shinji sound SO much better then the Japanese dub.

But I digress. This of course means my old Perfect Collection DVD box is now useless to me. If anyone here wants it, just PM me over the next week. I'm willing to give it away free to anyone who wants it, excepting postage costs -which if they live in Aus I'm probably willing to wave as its going to be rather low. Its in quite good condition, all the disks work and the box is intact, if a little worn in some places. If someone outside Aus wants it, let me know and we'll work out the cost for shipping it.

If I get a flood of offers (I'm sure this won't be the case, I'm sure most people have Evangelion DVD's - hell I used to have 4 of the tapes before that boxset) then who it goes to will be decided on how long I've known them, where they live yada yada, clearly with people I consider 'internet' friends coming out first. If no-one wants them, then I'll just give them to the local charity if they'll take them.

But don't expect it the next chapter a bit of time, I'm getting OH so close to getting another chapter of Derelict out, after over a bloody YEAR since the last. This chapter has been my kryptonite, I can't work with it more than a few minutes before I start to feel weak and lose all strength...but I am oh SO close! I must have written close to 100K words on this chapter, which is now sitting at 18K words, that's how many rewrites this has taken. This is the first time I've ever struggled over what should be a rather straight forward chapter like this. I mean Spartan was in Iraq when I started it, he has since come home and been deployed BACK to the Sandbox, and is halfway through another TOD right now!  
That's how long it's taking! And I've kept promising another chapter 'in a week' or so to him, and I've kept failing to meet my deadline because what looks like a simple run to the finish turns into a marathon taking place on a treadmill...bah!

Peace and out people.


	17. Sandalphon

ITS ALIVE! ALLLIIVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So.

I'm not going to give a speach about why this took so long, mostly because if I tried to run through the events that have delayed this chapter from coming out, I'd probably break down crying. To give some idea, as the awesome Douglas Adams said regarding the Vogons, this chapter has been;

"Signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters."

Just extend that 3 months to several years and you'll sorta get the idea. This chapter is as a result almost stitched together from multiple attempts and not really something I'm 100% about, but I figured after all this time it was more critical to just push it out and move on so I can actually move forward with this story and future chapters. As such, the butterflies are limited, but we'll really start to see things going next chapter, consequences building upon consequences ...

But for now, enjoy!

As always, a big shout out and thanks to Academia Nut for his beta services ... and yes, I am still invoking Anime Physics on some of the stuff :p

* * *

**Sandalphon**

Shinji tried to keep his face blank as the conference room door glided shut, but he none the less flinched ever so slightly as the room was sealed off from the brightly lit corridor outside and plunged it into darkness, plunged into another _world_. In a way, he was actually grateful for the fact that these people would _expect _him to be nervous, sealed alone in the imposing room as, frankly, he didn't think he could hide his emotional state very well.

So he simply waited, keeping himself as calm as possible in the darkness, until it was swiftly eliminated by a spotlight that switched on directly above him and blazed with glare that made him blink.

It was a cheap trick.

Just like his Father's open office, he realized the paired darkness and light were meant to focus the mood of the room on _him_, intimidating him and putting him off balance…but it wasn't working. He had far too many _other_ things to worry about right now to get worked up over the lighting conditions, so he just waited quietly, resisting the urge to look at his watch until a short length of time later figures started to materialize around him.

The first hologram to appear was to his left; an old man highlighted by a dark blue spotlight and dressed in a conservative –and expensive looking- Western style business suit. The man glanced up at him as he materialized, nodded once, and turned back to a stack of papers on his desk, ignoring him in favor of whatever business he was clearly in the middle of. Shinji didn't let it stop him from studying _him_; the oddest feeling as if he should _know _this stranger pressing at the back of his mind. The long craggy nose and lined face set into a perpetual scowl both felt strangely…_familiar, _despite the fact that he knew he had never met this person before. But he didn't have time to dwell on the feelings, pushing them to the side as a new figure materialized further down the table.

The newcomer was highlighted in Green that clashed horribly with a dark brown NERV suit and combined to give him an almost sickly appearance, an image not helped at all by his severe looking moustache and thick eyebrows, both of which framed a face lined and age worn that looked liked it belonged more in a nursing home then a NERV facility. The man's eyes however, belayed any thoughts that this was a senile old man. He was alert and appeared to take in the entire room as he materialized, his head barely moving as he glanced across at his colleague and exchange the slightest nod before turning back to face nothing, interlacing his fingers precisely in front of him on his desk and cultivating an air of patient anticipation, as another figure started to materialize.

The third man to appear directly across from 'Green' didn't even bother to take in his surroundings. Highlighted by a bright yellow spotlight, the half bald man with an absurdly pointed nose and wire thin glasses simply continued to work at a laptop computer with a steady tapping that pointedly stated that either the man found this whole meeting a waste of time, or, he was simply ignoring the three people in the room as unworthy of his attention.

The fact that in Shinji's mind both 'Green' and 'Blue' looked utterly nonplused by his 'I don't care' attitude suggested that this wasn't really anything personal, so Shinji just ignored him as a forth figure materialized seconds later to his left opposite 'Blue', highlighted by a rather demonic looking 'Red glow, but the man barely acknowledged him before turned away to glance down the table-

"Good morning, Mister Ikari".

The voice - _that _voice - turned his spine from cartilage to a column of ice in a heartbeat.

It was somewhat nasal; old and crackly like dried parchment…but utterly commanding; a voice that carried with a terrible majesty straight through the room, cutting through his preoccupation like an icy wind.

Slowly, Shinji raised his gaze to the position opposite his own, peripherally aware that the other men at the table –even Yellow- had also done so…and for the first time in either of his lives, he looked into the hidden gaze of Keel Lorenz, Chairman of the Human Instrumentality Committee.

Well, the man had a presence, Shinji would give him that.

He could _feel _it making his skin crawl in much the same way his Father dominated any room he entered; a presence so self assured in its power it all but _dared_ someone to challenge him - while simultaneously speaking volumes to the consequences should anyone be stupid enough to actually _try_ and do so.

"Chairman Keel".

It took an effort, but somehow Shinji managed to find the strength to hold the man's terrible visored gaze without flinching, earning him the slightest nod in acknowledgement before Keel broke away easily without loss or defeat, simply switching his attention to acknowledging his minions one after with minimal but polite nods back and forth before the visor covered gaze again swept back, dragging the gaze of his underlings with it back onto him.

"You have been asked before this committee, Mister Ikari, to assist us with ongoing investigations," Keel spoke with no more preamble, his voice echoing despite the physical reality of the small room as he leaned back into his chair, half melting into the darkness as he did so. "As you may or may not be aware, the Human Instrumentality Committee is the body the United Nations has directed to oversee all aspects of the 'Angel situation' and humanities counter-projects, such as the Evangelion. Our mandate Vis-à-vis the NERV organization is therefore to provide both Governance and Budgetary oversight on behalf of the UN Security Council. As a member of NERV; _you_ also fall under _our_ jurisdiction, and so you have been asked here to assist our inquiries. Do you understand?"

"Yes," was all Shinji trusted himself to say in a neutral tone…but then Keel did something Shinji _never_ would have thought he would do.

He chuckled.

And so did the rest of the committee, a wave of polite sycophantic amusement passing through the infinitely black room from the five men sitting in judgment over him.

"That, Mister Ikari, was the necessary legal…'disclaimer', if you will" 'Yellow' entered the conversation, a faint sharpness in his accent that Shinji occasionally noticed in Asuka's voice, leading him to hazard a guess that he was from Germany. "For the record, I believe I speak for every member of the Committee -and indeed on behalf of the UN- in offering a long overdue welcome to you, as well as our most sincere thanks for your outstanding service on behalf of humanity".

There was a murmur of agreement from the others and Shinji had to work hard to keep his expression from shifting into one of confusion, admitting that if they were trying to keep him off balance, they were succeeding wildly-

"We are quite pleased you have followed in the footsteps of both your Father and Mother in joining NERV" 'Green' broke in smoothly. "We do of course appreciate that the…_circumstances, _shall we say, under which you joined NERV were far from ideal".

"We are also certain that you are intelligent enough to understand the reasons for the methods your Father used to bring you into Project-E" 'Blue' spoke up next before they could dwell on it for too long. "As one of only three people thus far discovered with the innate ability to pilot an Evangelion, I am sure you can appreciate the ... _necessity_ of his actions at the time, even if we all regret them".

"But _that _is thankfully in the past" 'Yellow' put in smoothly, retaking control of the conversation. "_We_ are more concerned with the future at this time".

"Indeed" 'Blue' agreed, turning from 'Yellow' to face him with an 'all business' expression back on his face as he leaned forward, tapping his pen vertically against the table in idle concentration. "Rest assured Mister Ikari, you have not been brought to us to answer for your actions yesterday. While we _are _concerned with the events that took place and would strongly encourage you to think before you act in such a dangerous way, especially when concerning _all _of our known Evangelion pilots, we are reasonably satisfied that your direct superiors will deal with this situation and, as such, have neither comment nor input to offer on that situation, in of itself…"

* * *

That statement earned Mikhail Dostoevsky –also known as SEELE 06 to a _very _select few- a slight smirk from Gendo Ikari as the entire sequence placed out in miniature holographic form in front of his desk, in his darkened office. For all the Committees insistence on needing to talk to the Children in regards to the events of Yesterday, they had dropped the subject almost before it had come up, now that they finally had the Third Child in front of them.

Of course, their stated reason for talking to them had been complete sophistry, but it was a valid request he had no way of stopping. So rather than waste energy fighting an already decided matter, he had gone out of his way to _expedite_ it for them, ensuring their every request was met with precision and efficiency.

It gave him endless amusement to cause confusion and suspicion by choosing precisely the opposite course of action that he would have been logically expected to take.

Rei's meeting had been spectacularly short, he was -almost- proud of the way she had developed an ability to answer almost any question in three words or less. Her meeting with Keel and his merry men had almost been pro-forma; they knew they would get nothing out of her to be used against him, but they had gone through the motions anyway, politely listening to her answers one after the other as they ran through their questions.

Yes she was fine.

Yes she had gotten her hair cut.

Yes the dress she had worn to the dance had looked nice.

Yes she did find the Third Child to be a skilled and extremely valuable member of NERV.

No she didn't have any complaints about anything.

No she knew nothing to suggest SEELE's scenario was in any danger.

Yes she had made several new friends at school.

And yes, she was ready to end the world when ordered to do so.

He wasn't sure what had been more off-putting for SEELE's representatives; Rei's dramatic new look, or the way she had answered every question from her dancing activities to her ability to exterminate the remaining half of the human race with the same neutral expression and 'to the point' response.

Still, with the critical questions answered, Rei had been sent out and Soryu sent in.

_She_ had at least proven to be more of an amiable conversationalist, and although her 'interview' was perhaps the least important of the three there had been quite a few interesting moments in it.

For the most part of course, Keel and his merry men had opened up with the praise as they had always done, playing to her ego as they congratulated her on her victories against the Angels, declaring them a triumphant vindication of her years of hard work. Then, with astonishingly little subtly, they had shifted the topic towards the Third Child, all but pumping her for insights, observations; for _anything _they could use in complete ignorance of the friction that existed between the two pilots.

Exactly as he had predicted they would.

Of course, it helped greatly that he had not mentioned anything at all about the amusingly 'friction filled' relationship between the Second and Third to them. That little 'oversight' had ensured that Soryu had taken their questions as SEELE intruding into her personal space, diminishing her to little more than a source of information for them, an _annex_ to the Third Child.

Which was entirely _true _of course - The Second Child was by far the most expendable of the three pilots, but beating her about the head with that fact truly didn't help them in getting any useful data.

Clearly recognizing that his underlings had overplayed their hand, Keel at least had been smart enough to send her on her way with his own personal praise at her performance in an attempt to mitigate the damage, moving onto the 'main course' as it were…and Gendo was finding himself hard pressed to not roll his eyes at the mess they were making of _this_ 'interrogation'. With the exception of the Chairman himself who, as always, was keeping his distance, they were all as timid and weak as Dostoevsky; all too aware of their rapidly approaching mortality and all too terrified of losing everything they had worked for to do what _needed_ to be done to grasp their prize.

But that was hardly surprising to him; Keel hadn't chosen any of these people because they were leaders who would use inititive, he had chosen them because they were _followers_ who would _obey._

Dostoevsky, the Russian member of the Committee was SEELE's 'banker'; an apparent do-nothing, albeit senior, bureaucrat in the UN's budgeting office whose skills and authority had been critical in 'acquiring' the resources to set up the Artificial Evolution Laboratory, GEHIRN's predecessor, which had finally given SEELE's dream form. _He_ was the genius who had washed money through hundreds of banks and corporations around the world, diverting countless Dollars, Euros and Yen into SEELE's less than public projects until GEHIRN and then NERV had become powerful enough in their own right to become SEELE's personal bank, and even now his efforts ensured the money trail to SEELE's private pet projects was so tangled through various financial instruments that it would take years –years the world did not have- to uncover the truth of the elaborate shell games.

But for all his skill, Dostoevsky was an utter failure as a true 'player' on thislevel. He lacked both vision and ruthlessness, and so had been quickly put in his place by SEELE 01 once he had reached the Inner Circle, becoming little more than an extension of Keel's will…a fact which held true for the rest of the core committee to lesser or greater levels.

'Yellow', better known as Gunther Hertz and commander of NERV's Third Branch had the least _real_ power here. The man was unlikely to do anything more dangerous than ordering lunch without asking Keel's permission - and yet he was a brilliant administrator, the two facts combining to make him a perfect person to place in charge of the Third Branch, turning it in turn Keel's de-facto fiefdom and seat of power. But it would be foolish to underestimate him, even if only for the fact that as NERV Headquarters had been moved to a full war footing, the Third Branch had been delegated an increasing amount of Central's former R&D work. Including the Mark V Evangelion Mass Production prototype, some of the work on the Second Branch's S2 engine project…

And even failing those high profile projects, there was always 'A-Project'.

It was one of Gendo Ikari's few regrets that he would never be able to see the look on the faces of Hertz and Keel when they discovered that 'Adam' was in fact nothing more than a plastic mockup in a frozen Bakelite block...

'Red' on the other hand was the most powerful man of the Committee, at least publicly, in his primary role as the US Undersecretary for Defense. The job had long mutated into a consultative and coordinating position concerning the use of 'borrowed' elements of the US Military for the United Nations Combined Military Force; in essence a bureaucratic 'do-nothing' job with little formal authority but a _great_ deal of 'soft' influence on the US Government which Keel, a somewhat Euro-centric man, had found very useful.

Unfortunately for Michael Richards, his rather cushy job had been come screaming to a halt overnight with the loss of over ten thousand USN personnel and two dozen ships to the 6th Angel, among the Third of the UN Pacific Fleet had had been sunk in that engagement. The parts of the US Government still rather leery of the post Second-Impact UN had been having a field day using him as a punching bag, dragging him before the US Senate on no fewer than four occasions to answer some rather heated questions. It had all been patched over of course, but not without calling in some very significant markers SEELE-01 had _not_ been pleased to cash in, meaning he was somewhat out of 'favor' with Keel right now…almost the exact opposite situation of the final player in the room.

Better known as Keisuke Hachisuka, 'Green' had become a continual source of annoyance to Gendo. Stationed in Tokyo-2 and employed as a high level bureaucrat in the Japanese Civil Service, Hachisuka was primarily in charge of SEELE's highly successful counter-intelligence operations that had effectively neutralized the two principal investigative arms of the Japanese Government, the JDA and NPA.

Indeed, in theory, Hacisuka worked for _him_ as much as Keel in keeping the Japanese Governments nose out of Tokyo-3 and SEELE's business, while performing his 'real' job as the main conduit between the NERV and Japanese bureaucracies that kept everything running smoothly between the supranational organization and its host country.

It was an amusing fiction, but he knew full well the _real _reason Keel had put his hatchet man in place all those years ago was to cultivate the contacts SEELE 01 would need if –or more accurately _when_- moving against Tokyo-3 in forcebecame necessary. Gendo had taken care to build up quite a formidable powerbase during his time Tokyo-3, a powerbase independent of SEELE that they had accepted as the price of putting someone in charge who _could _look after their interests, yet keep them completely out of the picture. He -unlike every other member of SEELE- had been more than willing to get his hands dirty, to be the public target for every investigation launched into NERV…but the end result was that he was _not _going to be leaving his domain any time soon, if he didn't _want_ to go.

By that same token of course, he knew Lorenz would never have been so stupid as to just leave him to his own devices, so Hachisuka found every possible excuse to visit Tokyo-3 from Toyko-2, sticking his nose in everywhere without even the slightest hint of subtlety, his presence a warning from Keel not to go _too _far or gain a hold of _too _many resources in their little game of chess, lest SEELE be forced to eliminate him and accept the messy consequences that would result.

But their comfortable game of murderous plotting had been shaken to the core with a new variable that had entered the equation, one that by its very position could undermine any number of critical assumptions in SEELE's scenarios, simply by being present.

Shinji Ikari.

That the Third Child had been proven to be anything butthe introverted, fragile and pliable child both he and SEELE had been expecting was an impressive enough failure on its own merits. But when combined with an astonishing _natural_ talent that still confounded the best scientists NERV had to offer, the lack of _any_ kind of control over him had become an intolerable situation for SEELE. All their reports had proclaimed that he was a weak and easily controlled child, thus a non-factor in their calculations.

The _real _Shinji who had turned up in Tokyo-3 however, was an entirely different matter. And while he could no doubt be influenced like any normal person, NERV's clear need for him after his phenomenal combat debut and 'setting of terms' with his Father had ended even the possibility of coercion, leaving SEELE in the entirely uncomfortable situation of trusting enormous parts of their scenario to someone who could, even entirely incidentally, bring it all crashing down if he so chose.

In short, Keel needed information. He had destroyed his chance to get a read of the Third Child from Soryu, Rei was equally useless to him, and this little 'interrogation' was getting them nowhere.

And yet…Lorenz was just sitting there, quietly waiting and watching in the background, but saying nothing; letting his underlings continue their clumsy questioning…

Which meant he had _something_, another card to play, and was just waiting for the right moment to put it on the table.

Gendos eyes narrowed slightly. _Your move, Old Man…_

* * *

"We are aware that your Father has devolved all parental responsibilities to Captain Katsuragi," 'Green' continued, leaning forward slightly in his chair and fiddling with a pen in a distracted sort of way. "We are also aware that since the death of your Mother, your relationship with him has been…" the voice trailed off as if embarrassed.

"Strained" 'Yellow' offered into the gap.

"Indeed" 'Green' continued with a nod of thanks to 'Yellow'. "As I am sure you can understand, we therefore have some degree of concern over your current guardianship arrangements as they have been arranged".

"First and foremost among them, the fact that Captain Katsuragi is being overloaded with her responsibilities at this point in time," 'Red' spoke up somewhat gruffly, tapping his own pen against the desk as he entered the conversation for the first time, drawing Shinji's attention towards his end of the table. "As I am sure you can appreciate, the Captain, in her capacity as Operations Planning manager, has had a remarkable increase in her workload since the Angels returned. Yet at the same time, she has selflessly taken on the responsibility as guardian to you and the Second Child, and indeed even something of the same to the First by all our reports".

"Which is something I am extremely grateful for," Shinji replied curtly as he fought the urge to wipe his palms off on his trousers, wondering where they were going with this. Surely they weren't going to try and order him to move in with his _Father, _were they?

"Indeed, she should be _commended_ for her efforts," 'Yellow' agreed with a nod before he shut up at a look from 'Red', who continued, albeit looking slightly miffed at the interruption.

"Yes, indeed…yet the Captain, in addition to her dramatically increased workload, has the added burden of looking after you…and in some quarters, the events of yesterday, which took place technically under her supervision, are raising questions about if she is suited to the responsibility". And as if to forestall the protest he could probably see starting to form on his face, 'Red' raised his hand before continuing. "_None_ of the members of this Committee deny the extraordinary efforts she has made, nor the clear bond you share with her. We simply suggest that, for more _her _sake than yours, you might consider an alternative arrangement ".

"And before you reply in the resoundingly negative as I know you would like to" Keel put in with a slight smile still on his face, "I would like to offer you something of an alternative you may wish to think about".

Shinji blinked as Keel re-entered the conversation. He hadn't even realized the man had _left_ it until then, and as he stared at him it finally hit him that Keel had simply been watching him. Studying him.

As if waiting for the right moment…

Nervously fighting off the feeling that he had stumbled right onto the edge of a abyss he couldn't see, Shinji none the less nodded hesitantly and Keel gestured to his right without looking away from him, a new spotlight clicking on to reveal a new 'old man' standing at Keels right hand in a soft colorless spotlight.

* * *

Gendo Ikari raised an eyebrow and leaned back in his chair as the new player materialized.

So, this was Keels play was it?

It was…unexpected.

But it _was_ elegant; he would give Lorenz that.

The person who had just materialized he had long dismissed as a non-player in the secret world he and SEELE dueled in. In fact, his current position was as much due to this man's self imposed decline as his own machinations; all of it traced back to a single event that still dominated both of their lives, even after all these years.

Yui's Death.

Using this man as their attempt to get at the Third Child was inspired thinking, a truly spectacular play at the precisely correct time…if, _if_ Keel was reading his target correctly.

Forcing his eyes back to their normal, somewhat indifferent gaze as the other approached Keels shoulder, Gendo Ikari did the only thing he could.

He watched. And waited.

* * *

"May I introduce, or, more accurately, _reintroduce_ you to your Grandfather, Takuya Ikari?"

Shinji just stared as Keels voice echoed grandly around the room, unbelieving and caught _completely_ off guard as he stared at the newcomer. Oh he had _heard _of him before, but he had never really thought about him, anymore than any of his other relatives who had never been inclined to so much as send him a Birthday card.

"…Yes," he said, congratulating himself on keeping his voice somewhat steady as he sounded out the word, the _only_ word that tumbled out of his racing thoughts. He had thought that he had been prepared for just about everything the Committee might have tried to do today, from threats to bribes to a revelation that they knew _everything_, followed by a bullet into his head from some Section Two agent standing in the darkness.

Yet despite his paranoia…SEELE had managed to blindside him.

He couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of admiration under the stunned disbelief blowing through his mind, at how they had gotten him so off balance, so easily.

"I know it has been a very long time Shinji," Takuya continued in an all too _Grandfatherly _voice; the small smile on his face no doubt a direct consequence from the utterly flabbergasted expression on _his_. "And I must apologize most sincerely for that, and yet I rejoice that fate has allowed us this chance to meet once again".

Shinji worked his jaw several times before taking a somewhat shaky breath to try and steady himself, somehow returning the older man's gaze while peripherally aware that every pair of eyes in the room –and probably many others near and far- were studying him closely

"It has been a long time," he agreed as he stared down his Grandfather with as level an expression as he could manage, clasping his hand behind his back to stop them twitching as he fought to rally himself, offering a stiff shrug in return. "I shouldn't be surprised; you're not the first family member to remember I exist since my ability to pilot an Evangelion was discovered".

His barb, unfortunately, didn't so much as make any of the men staring at him blink.

"You have every right to be angry Shinji," his Grandfather replied softly to his blunt statement, the man's voice and face thick with a mixture of guilt and deep sadness…or at least _very _good approximations of them, leaning on a cane of the finest craftsmanship made from dark red woods as he stepped past Keel. "It is a hard thing to lose one's only child Shinji, but to lose your _mother_ at your age - and then your Father only a week later..."

He couldn't help it. He just _couldn't _help it.

Because at those words, as he blinked, Shinji once again found himself a terrified and uncomprehending four year old _child_, clutching his teddy bear and a train ticket as his Fathers back receded inevitably out of his life for the next decade, ignoring his desperate screams and cries with an indifferent coldness that even now, two lifetimes later-

"Your Mother had a saying Shinji; we cannot make time run backwards, but only spur its course forward with our own hands," his Grandfather, snapping Shinji's attention back to the present. "I cannot and will not try to defend failures in the past to you; fate however has given us an opportunity that I do not intend to waste, and I intend to arrive at Tokyo-3 within the week to make sure of it".

"What we are proposing," Keel re-entered the conversation smoothly, letting his Grandfather pull back slightly, "is simply that you and your Grandfather can get to know each other over the next few weeks. Spend some time with him, give Captain Katsuragi some time to herself, time that in no way interferes with your interaction with her at NERV, _or_ outside it. He is, as a former member of the GEHIRN group, fully cleared on all Evangelion matters, and his security clearance has been reinstated as an independent Special Advisor to NERV, so you can feel completely free to discuss any sensitive issues you may have with him..."

"...and I do not intend to intrude Shinji," his Grandfather took up the narrative as Keel let his voice trail off once again. "Please believe me; more than anything else I just want to make use of this opportunity to get to know you. There are...well, so _many_ things I want to tell you, about your extended Family, about NERV and, of course, about your Mother. And if we can spend some time away from the horrors of this war, away from that _loathsome_ Evangelion that took her from us..."

* * *

"I think we might have outsmarted ourselves here Ikari".

Gendo glanced to his left and the brown suited man standing next to his desk, in silence until now throughout the 'interrogations', as it were.

"Do you think so?" he replied to the other with some small trace of amusement before turning his gaze back to the now silent taboo as the elder Ikari's voice trailed off, all the figures in the holographic 'room' utterly silent and still as they waited on the younger Ikari's response.

"Yui is a weak spot for Shinji," Kozo Fuyutsuki pointed out grimly as he stepped up to the desk, his gaze not leaving the quarter scale hologram playing out in front of it as he shook his head slightly.. "_Everything_ points to that Ikari. Keel might well have stumbled onto the right button to push. I don't know, but he figured it out".

Gendo raised an eyebrow at the Vice Commanders grim tone. "And you think Takuya can use these memories to bait a response from him? In such an openly manipulative way? I daresay you are overestimating this threat, Fuyutsuki".

Kozo shrugged slightly in a non committal way to his dismissive skepticism. "You've refused to provide those answers to Shinji, Takuya is all but offering them to him on a silver platter and going out of his way to avoid being too forward while doing so. He even outright denigrated the Eva right in front of the Committee, taking 'his' side against 'them'. It's simplistic, but direct...and if he is able to edge Shinji away from our control, provide a vector for SEELE to directly influence him without anyone involved loosing face…"

Gendo ignored the 'I told you so' tone in the Fuyutsukis voice, dismissing it as a factor of his amusing -if misplaced- thoughts that he and the Third Child _had _to reconcile, as if the last decade could simply be swept under the bridge with a few tearful hugs or some such foolishness.

A point that neither Keel nor Takuya appeared to understand either, given their attempt at this play. Clearly, they had taken note of the fact that he had devolved all parental and guardianship responsibilities to Katsuragi...and leapt to the conclusion that he must have been left even _more_ isolated, desperate for any part of his 'real' family.

Having read the Captain's rather 'colorful' file, he could even understand such a conclusion being reached, flawed as it was.

So he allowed a grin only he knew to materialize behind his steepled hand as Shinji finally brought his gaze back up to drill into his Grandfather, his expression suddenly carved from granite for all the emotion present in it compared to ten seconds ago, but an expression that Gendo recognized as the same one Shinji had directed at _him _all those weeks ago in the Evangelion cage, as the Third Angel had stalked its way towards Tokyo-3.

This promised to be mildly entertaining.

* * *

At the height of the Third Impact, Shinji knew that on some level he had become, for lack of a better word, a 'conduit' for Lilith as she had harvested - reaped- the souls of humanity from across the world. Those moments were something of a blur to him, and he had often quietly thanked a God he didn't really believe in that he couldn't remember too many specifics of _those _moments, knowing that to recall that hour of his life again would forfeit his sanity in an instant.

But these people..._these_ people he remembered. After a fashion.

Intellectually, he knewthat they were killers; murderers on a scale that had never been achieved before in human history, despite mankind doing its best to invent a great deal of technology for the purpose of mass destruction over the last century.

Intellectually, he knew that they had been responsible for using him as a pawn, forcing him into his position at the heart of the Third Impact. That as much as his failures, _they _were responsible for _making him _who he was, _what _he was.

The facts as they stood should have been more than enough to convince him - to convince _anyone -_ to refuse everything they asked of him, to laugh at any suggestion of wanting to get to know _anyone _involved with them, to turn around and walk out right now and _dare _them to do something about it...

But it wasn't enough.

Not for him.

Not for Shinji Ikari.

Their reasoning about Misato he _knew_ was wrong. Granted; he knew that he and Asuka had made her life difficult at times, but she had _never _suggested that either of them was a burden. He still remembered the second time he had run away from Tokyo-3; he had been so angry with _everyone _that he had externally looked almost paradoxically calm. It had been then that Misato, in an equally frank way, had told him that she was leaving both his pass to Headquaters and his room exactly as they were. She had told him then and there that she and just about everyone at NERV had put all her hopes in him to save them all...

...and he had just ignored her words and run anyway. Again.

But as he stood there, under the spotlight with the faces of the most powerful people in the world focused on _him_, off balance and scattered; Shinji Ikari ... froze..

His mind whirled, at the offer. Somewhere in the back of his hesitant, nerve wracked mind, a part of him was _screaming_ at the danger of this moment, the knowledge that if he let SEELE into his life, the odds of them somehow finding out the truth, of finding a way to undo _everything_ he was desperately working towards, would skyrocket catastrophically.

But as much as he desperately tried to deny it, he knew that despite _everything _he had gone through, no matter how much he might have told himself that he had his _real _Family now...a part of his soul twitched at the presence of a living relative _wanting _to spend time with him.

And if his Grandfather hadn't said three words, then and there, in his nervous, intimidated and downright uncertain state, he might just have hesitantly stuttered out some kind of agreement to their proposals.

But his Grandfather _had_ said threewords.

It had been a room like this one that didn't exist, except perhaps in the vast expanse of Cyberspace. Twelve huge monoliths circling nothing as they collectively watched their final plans unfold faster and faster, decades of painstaking planning suddenly thrown into jeopardy as Evangelion Unit Two unexpectedly came roaring out of what should have been its watery grave to decimate their pawn forces in the JSSDF with casual ease, a wave of anger and hate rippling through the people observing the final moments of their scenario as it was suddenly cast into doubt.

-("That _Loathsome _Evangelion")-

-("Will our goals be denied again!?")-

-("It seems we will have to fight fire, with fire!")-

And with those three words, he was -

-(Slumped over on the verge of a mental breakdown in disbelief as he reached Unit One, only to find the Entry plug mechanism a pile of twisted metal)-

-("And that Baka Shinji is nowhere to be found, of course!")-

-(Asuka screaming in rage and defiance as she impossibly, insanely, charged the first of the Mass Production Evangelions, leaping hundreds of meters to crash down and tear its face apart)-

-("I CAN'T LOSE! NOT WITH HER WATCHING!")-

-(The horrible, soul shattering scream as the Lance of Longinus tore through Unit Two -_Asuka's_- face)-

-(An even more terrible scream as another half dozen Lances tore through what was left of the disabled Evangelion, before the vultures that were the Mass Production Evangelions crashed to Earth, tearing, eating and fighting over the corpse as they ripped it to shreds...and the impossible, yet impossible to _deny_ fact, that Asuka had somehow felt _everything_)-

-(And as he had risen in an unholy storm, floating in Unit One above the cratered and burned landscape, his gaze had taken in the shredded remains of Unit Two scattered across the Geofront)-

A final scream had sounded.

But this one had been from his own mouth, as his last, tenuous grip on his sanity had irrevocably snapped and torn open the gates of hell for SEELE.

Somehow -and he honestly didn't know how- he managed to contain the scream that threatened to explode from his lungs as the utter _torture_ those memories were ended as swiftly as they had thrown him back to the lowest point of his life, his body instinctively taking a somewhat shaky deep breath to steady itself...

But it was no longer fear that it was shaking from. It was as if in the back of his mind, a switch had been flicked, the almost catatonic state of nerves and fear he had been working himself into simply vanished as if it had never been.

And in its place, was rage. Simple, breathtakingly straight forward, rage.

_'Burying memories is man's way of surviving. But there are some things a man should never forget. Yui taught me that one irreplaceable thing Shinji. It is the reason I come here, to affirm that commitment'_

Those had been his Fathers words, back at his Mother's grave a lifetime ago. He hadn't understood what his Father had been trying to say, feeling only confusion as his Father admitted to destroying everything that reminded him of his former wife, leaving only the memories held deep in his heart. In the days that followed as he had tried to piece together his Father's words, Shinji had concluded that his Father was just a cold man who had ruthlessly sacrificed even his own family, to focus on his work at NERV for reasons he would never understand.

But it was only as he mentally forced the image of Unit Two and its pilot torn to pieces out of his head, that he started to understand what his Father had been trying to tell him that day, as he raised his head to face them.

If he wanted to survive ... he had to bury his own past.

"Three thousand, five hundred and forty nine"

At least Keel and his Grandfather had the decency to glance at each other in confusion for a second, before turning back to face him.

"I'm sorry Shinji? I don't understand-"

"Three thousand, five hundred and forty nine" he repeated, biting off each word with a knife like edge as he stared across the table at the uncomprehending men. "It's the number of days since my Father sent me off to live with my uncle. It also happens to be the number of days since anyone from the _rest_ of my extended family bothered to so much as acknowledge that I even existed."

The look on his Grandfather's face more than anything else dragged Shinji back from the edge. He appeared utterly confused at his response, befuddled even, and it suddenly hit Shinji that they simply _didn't understand_. Once in his life, he would have leapt at the offer from his Grandfather, in the same pathetic way he had clung to his Father's praise after he had stopped the 10th Angel, letting those three worlds play over and over in his head.

-("Good work, Shinji...")-

But now? Now he only felt contempt for this man. Not perhaps on the same primal level as the feelings he had for his Father, but year after year, alone with no family, no real friends, cast off and forgotten by everyone in his extended family...

Where had this man been when his Father had yanked him to Tokyo-3 and thrust him into the middle of this damn war?

Where had his Grandfather been when everything had become so overwhelming, everything had just made him want to scream and break down as pressure was piled on top of pressure until he had collapsed under the weight of the world, running away from NERV and wandering the streets in a hopeless, aimless search for someone -ANYONE- to turn to as he tried to get some kind of a grip on his life?

Where had this family memberbeen when his Father had forced _him _to tear apart Unit Three, leaving one of his pathetically few friends a crippled mess with no-one to turn to; as he had been made to feel, see, smell and _touch _everything, helpless to do stop his own_ hands_ from smashing Toji's entry plug?

Where had his own flesh and blood been when everything had inevitably shattered with Misato all but gone, Asuka in her catatonic state, Rei now an utterly alien creature that terrified him, his hands covered in Karowu's blood, desperately looking for someone, _anyone _to just _hold_ him and tell him it would be alright?

Mistao had been there and tried.

He had not.

Looking into the others eyes, he _knew_ the answer to those questions, the knowledge burned into his mind in the hell of 3rd Impact. His Grandfather had been with SEELE the whole time; chanting with them as the fulfillment of their scenario took place, using _him _as their Jacobs Ladder to storm heaven, a stairway constructed from the bodies _everyone_ he had ever loved in his life!

But, with an almost physical effort, he managed to push his anger and rage aside.

Uncontrolled hate was a luxury. One he could not afford in this room.

"The woman you claim is unsuited to looking after me, took it upon _herself_ to sleep outside my room while I was recovering from the battle my Father _blackmailed_ me into," he bit off, his blank face slowly fading away to be replaced with a almost acidic glare at his Grandfather, who actually backed off a step as Shinji slowly started to move towards to him. "She then _insisted_ that I stay with her when my Father refused to have anything to do with me - as per normal. So I can't help but wonder, who exactly should I think of as my _real_ family? Someone who saved my life, watched over me while I slept without being asked and took me into her home? Or people who pretend I don't exist, until they have some kind of _use_ for me?"

Not waiting for an answer, he turned to Keel, suddenly wanting to get out of this room more than anything else before he said anything stupid that he and humanity would regret. "Does _that_ sufficiently answer your question Mister Chairman?"

"Yes, it does. A great _many_ of them, in fact," the other said mildly, a tone of satisfied amusement entering his crackling voice, with neither his words nor his body language giving the slightest indication of any surprise or annoyance at his response.

The tone was like a bucket of ice water to the fire of Shinji's rage, extinguishing it and leaving only the chill in the air as his emotion drained away. This was a person skilled beyond others in this hidden world where he barely ranked as a novice...and in a childish tantrum, he had just given him a good look at his 'real' self.

He couldn't undo such an error ... but, as he looked around the room, the public face of SEELE ... he decided he wasn't going to compound it.

"In that case, good day, Mister Chairman" he nodded briefly to the other before spinning around and striding for the door, wanting nothing more than to walk out and never come back to this room.

He made it most of the way to the door before he heard the older Ikari call out.

"Shinji..." the other said. "I can understand your anger...but I hope you realize, that if you ever need me, as your Grandfather I will be here for you."

Shinji turned around just shy of the door and let his eyes seek out the other out for what he suspected would be the last time. A part of him was still searching...he didn't know for _what_ exactly. A sign of a family member? A link to what he had always wanted so desperately, above anything else, in his long and miserable life...?

He didn't know, not really. But _whatever_ it was...he finally knew it wasn't there - and that he would _never_ find it there. All that remained of his family were the husks of people who were working to destroy the pathetically few things in his life he loved, whose only interest in him was as a tool to make the destruction of mankind happen.

And so when he finally spoke to the other, it was in a tone of utter certainty as that tiny part of himself that had clung to the illusion of a family from his surviving relatives, finally died.

"I may be your Grandson Mister Ikari ... but you are _not_ my Grandfather" he told the other, in a voice stripped of any emotion. "Goodbye".

Turning his back on the man, Shinji stepped up to the door and left the room, swearing to himself that he would not let his Father, his Grandfather or any of the rest of the 'Old Men' drag him back into the past.

* * *

"Well...that was most...intriguing," Mikhail Dostoevsky commented in the silence that fell after Shinji had left the room, and their status board indicators confirmed that the link to Tokyo-3, including the link to Gendo Ikari's office that didn't show but everyone knew had to be there anyway, had been cut.

"Our psychological profile is nothing at all like the reality," added Gunther Hertz with an arch look at Keisuke Hachisuka, the 'Japan' Man whose job of watching Gendo Ikari and NERV Central nominally included the rest of his family and acquaintances, including the First Child. SEELE and its slightly more civil face in the Instrumentality Committee was a byzantine organization at the best of times and failure was eagerly used to shift power around the members on a weekly basis. Granted, no-one could have expected that the Third Child merited close observation or attention, but that didn't mean Hachisuka wouldn't take the _blame_...

"Perhaps," Hachisuka responded grudgingly to the accusation, the green light around him hiding the slight flush of his face at the barb, "but none the less he has shown us his center remained as I anticipated. His own flesh and blood may be irrelevant to him," he said with a glance at the single remaining Ikari in the room, "but his _family_ is not".

"Agreed" a deeper voice broke into the conversation - one not from those sitting at the table. _This_ voice came from a giant monolith that circled the room with seven others, featureless except for the glowing words 'SEELE-05 - Sound Only' on it as they too had weighed and jugged the one who Liliths bastard had chosen. "His respect and regard for Captain Katsuragi was...notable"

"As have been his effects on both the First and Second," SEELE-09 put in from over Keels shoulder. "As much as he may loathe his Father, he has clearly inherited Ikari's ability to take leadership of a group. Even the _Second_ appears to be nominally following his leadership! And as for the effects he has had on the First..."

"Are we certain the First will still play her role?" Hertz asked pointedly.

"Ikari _will_ make sure of it," Hachisuka said, his tone leaving little doubt as to _which_ Ikari he was talking about. "One way...or the other".

"But will her role be ours...or _his?_" SEELE-08 rebutted, and the voice scrambler couldn't quite contain the acid in the others voice.

"_Enough,_" Keel broke up the childish sparring with a single word that instantly imposed silence. As much as his encouraged those under him to work out their own hierarchy, the better to keep them distracted from his own position, Keel was first among equals and _everyone_ knew it well. "The First is little more than a tool that can be replaced when we need to do so," he pointed out, also leaving unsaid the fact that he was not talking about replacing Rei with another Rei - and wouldn't _that _be a glorious surprise for Ikari? "As is the case for the Second and even, ultimately, the Third. They are pieces on the board, not players in the game. Valuable, but still merely expendable assets".

"And what of Katsuragi?" Dostoevsky rumbled, the implication clear enough without having to add _'and what about Ryoji Kaji'. _Not that he was stupid enough to openly say it given that Keel had been the one to send the man to Gendo Ikari in the first place, but the message was clear.

"She is Ikari's problem, not ours," Keel said dismissively, addressing the unstated question by ignoring it. "If a wedge of mistrust can be driven between Ikari and his key officers, so much the better. As long as she is kept in the dark, she remains a net asset to the Scenario. Her hatred of the Angels and military skill combined with her ignorance of the truth makes her the perfect asset to eliminate the Angels - and I remind you all before we get ahead of ourselves; _they _remain rightly our primary focus for now".

He paused for just long enough to be sure no-one was going to argue the point - and unsurprisingly no-one dared - before nodding slowly and bringing the meeting to a close.

"Now, we will await Ikari's plan of attack to deal with the Eighth Angel which should be soon by the Scenario. The Committee will meet after this event to critique the operation and adjust the budgeting priorities of Evangelion units Six through Nine accordingly. Until then, we are adjourned".

Without any dissension, the four other men around the table and seven brooding monoliths vanished, as their ultra secure conference network shut down. Leaning back in his luxurious chair, Keel took in his lair as the lights came back on, showing the room that very few people would ever see, deep under the 3rd Branch in Berlin. Holographic projectors around the room could shift the perfectly polished rock walls to show anything in perfect clarity if he wished it to be so from a forest in the Ardens to a perfect duplication of the view from Ikari's office in his Geofront should he wish it, but he generally left it in this true state. _He_ had no need to live in illusions of where he was and who he was.

Much the same it appeared, as the Third Child.

Keel winced as he adjusted his seating, feeling tiny servomotors adjust his frame as he did so. He was old. He knew that by all natural law he should have died years ago, laws he had spat on in his refusal to see his life's work left unaccomplished and simply succumb to the legacy of original sin, dust to dust and ashes to ashes. Much of the cybernetic technology that had created the Evangelions had been adapted for use in keeping him alive and functional, from the artificial spine down his back to the biosynthetic leg muscles and servomotors that let him still walk.

But of course, all of that was internal. From the outside, he looked much the same as any other person...except for his eyes.

Lost to cancer many years ago, the visor that replaced them was functional enough, an outgrowth of the same Angelic technology that had built the formidable Evangelions. Much like Ikari and his omnipresent glasses, the shield they provided for his own thoughts was prized. But where Ikari was merely content to hide his thoughts from others, surprisingly few people thought a blind man could _see _and so few people tried to truly hide themselves from _him_.

But Shinji Ikari...

Keel Lorenz stayed in his chair for almost half an hour, the only sign that he was still alive being the faintest humming sound that came in time with the rise and fall of his chest. Finally, he leaned forward and turned his attention to the figure that had not vanished with the council, and had been waiting patiently in his office on the other side of his desk, sipping a brandy liberally drawn from his extensive private stock. Although he had in truth been 'out of the game' for a time in terms of any real authority, the older Ikari had been something of a 'party elder' and probably the closest thing to a mentor he had - a mirror of the relationship between Gendo and Kozo in Tokyo-3.

"Well," Takuya Ikari said with a slight smirk on his face that no-one else in SEELE would dare to present to him. "That didn't go exactly to plan".

"No, but it was enlightening none the less," Keel replied with an equally sardonic expression. "I must admit...he did remind me more of Yui than his Father".

"In his zeal or his sense of moral outrage?" the other said with a brief snort.

"Both of those - but I was thinking more of his intelligence and insights," Keel replied, leaning forward slightly in his chair, his gaze behind the visor boring in on the other. "He knows _far_ more then he should...but more than that, he knew enough to try and hide it from us".

Takuya frowned slightly. "How?"

"The more pertinent question is 'what?'" Keel corrected the other. "I feel confident that he knows we have motives beyond those we publicly admit to - and he clearly knows both we and his Father have, shall we say ... conflicting interests? He has rejected Ikari's attempts to control him just as he saw through ours".

"He may simply view us through the same prism he views his father" Takuya suggested into the silence after a moment as he too mulled the situation over. "Seeing us as being cut from the same cloth, the same group. With agendas and motives beyond our public personas that he has no time for in the war against the Angels? Not an uncommon perspective in frontline soldiers".

"Perhaps..." Keel replied, considering the possibility. "When Shinji first looked at me and ... no," he corrected himself as the revelation in the back of his mind he had been struggling towards finally exploded into his thoughts with full force. "No Takuya. It was when Shinji first _heard _me, there was a reaction. A reaction much more than surprise ... it was _recognition_. He _knew _who I was - simply by the sound of my voice".

"Of course he did, he was told he was going to meet the Chairman and you were the only member of the group to talk to him..."

Again, Keel shook his head, this time with increasing confidence, the servomotors in his neck whirring softly as he did so.

"No, it was more than that. It was _genuine_ recognition, on a level far more than meeting some UN official he should care less about. And only for a moment, he covered his reaction almost at once, quite deliberately. But for that moment, it was almost as if he _knew_ both who I was and what I represented".

"_That's_ impossible," the other declared flatly, before frowning slightly. "Unless, of course, his Father has been telling him things he shouldn't?"

"No. Ikari needs his Son in the dark as much as we do," Keel dismissed the thought ... and behind his visor, his non functional eyes narrowed chillingly as he thought over the situation, and came to the only possible conclusion.

"There's something else going on," he concluded. "I don't know what, I don't know who or how, but Shinji Ikari is playing his own game here outside of _all _of our controls".

Keel's expression only hardened as he thought over the sudden danger and even though he was not the target of the look, Takuya Ikari felt a chill pass up his spine at the expression of Keels face.

"And we must find out what it is".

* * *

There were some days that Professor Watanabe loved his job.

And then there were days he hated it.

Case in point, the time immediately after Second Impact. He did not really begrudge the fact that humanity needed to survivein those horrible years and so expertise such as his had became rather less in demand than doctors and civil engineers trying to rebuild damaged and destroyed infrastructure. But as the years had passed since the end of the disaster and the world had rebounded with astonishing resiliency, it had been the devil's work to try and scrounge up funding for his field of expertise. No matter how many people he had told over and over that his work was vital in understanding just what kinds of 'internal' changes the Earth had undergone since the impact of the asteroid at the turn of the millennium, door after door was slammed in his face. He had survived by taking on various odd jobs here and there, using his enormous expertise to fill in some of the skill holes the disaster had introduced to the population. And it wasn't as if he wasn't well compensated - consulting on aspects of major infrastructure programs in the mad rush to rebuild the planet kept him quite well off financially ... but he had never been able to get back to his first love.

He was and forever would be, a Volcanologist at heart.

And he knew he was not alone. He had kept somewhat in touch with his remaining companions in the field -who had not been wiped out by the mega tsunamis from the Second Impact - and the same lack of Governmental interest had all but destroyed their careers, with a few exceptions here and there. Some days it felt as there was a worldwide conspiracy working to stop any real analysis of the massive interior structural changes the Earth _had_ to have suffered from the asteroid impact - absurd as he knew the idea was.

No, the truth was that his skills had simply moved out of fashion as Earth had turned to the new technologies and sciences the GEHERN and then NERV organizations had unleashed, and eventually he had all but given up any hope of returning to his life's passion.

Until one day -just over a year ago as he recalled- when a Government representative had come to him with an offer. The kind of job that one dreamed about but never _really _expected - even back in the 'good old days'.

And they had gotten him hook, line and sinker - simply asking him to look into something of a major geological conundrum they had stumbled upon - offering him a near _unlimited _budget and his choice of personnel to boot!

Now _that_ had been a day that he had unquestionably _loved _his job.

Wasting little time after accepting, he had handpicked a crack team of international experts who had all leapt at the chance to finally get back to doing what they were born to do.

Then came the year of headaches and disbelief as everything the world knew about volcanoes had been thrown out the window.

This Volcano was completely unlike anything ever seen in human history. And it wasn't as if Mount Asama hadn't been studied in depth many times before - yet it was as if over the fifteen years after the Second Impact the Volcano had decided it just wasn't interesting enough ... and had decided to spice things up by simply throwing the laws of physics out the window.

For a start, he could see the Lava with his own eyes. Lava _boiling_ in an open crater. A stable, open _lake _of Lava that was neither cooling off and solidifying, nor expanding out in an eruption. It was as if it was just ... simmering.

Even more bizarrely, this 'Lava' had a very high silica content at high temperatures, yet maintained a viscosity closer to _water _than molten rock, something that should have been _completely_ impossible anywhere outside of the Earth's mantel. Yet, deep vent samples drilled within a fifty kilometer radius around the site had shown perfectly conventional Magma underground, meaning that as far as his team could figure it out this single vent from Mount Asama existed in a state where the laws of physics had simply been 'suspended for the duration'.

And that fact when presented to his backers in his first official report had only seemed to excite and encourage them. That should have been a warning sign, but he had been far too caught up in the situation to think clearly.

And so they had come to the breakthrough two days ago. A full spectrum EM field analyzer - an incredibly expensive toy he had leased less because he thought it might prove critical and more because it was _something _to do with his absurdly huge budget- had triangulated and locked in on a constant low level field almost eight hundred meters down into the primary magma chamber, two hundred meters beyond the maximum depth of his state of the art lava probe and from the repeating pattern, clearly artificial. He had ordered the probe lowered to its maximum depth anyway, and he had barely managed to get low frequency sonar snapshots of _something _lurking in the depths of the Volcano, causing a wave of excitement to pass around the scientists

Then all hell had broken loose.

NERV -who it turned had been the Government agency behind his work all along- had stepped in within six hours and declared that they were 'sending a team' to review their findings, immediately, with a postscript requesting that they required him to maintain full confidentially on the greatest scientific discovery in his field's history, citing all manner of clauses in his funding agreement with none too subtle mentions of consequences if he didn't keep his mouth shut.

He was not an idiot, he knew _just_ enough about NERV to know that he reallydid not want to know more about them, let alone have their boots stomping all over his work. But it was also not as if he had much choice, and so here he was waiting for one 'Captain Katsuragi' and his team to arrive at his office, the NERV VTOL having touched down over ten minutes ago.

A polite but brisk knock on his door at that point confirmed that NERV had indeed found their way upstairs. He stood, checking his reflection inside a small mirror mounted on a wall of the cramped office before he moved to the door and centered his thoughts, trying to ignore the fact that he knew this was going to be one of the days he _hated _his job-

"Professor Watanabe?" the absolutely _stunning_ woman in a military uniform standing on the other side of the doorway asked him with a beaming smile. "I'm Captain Katsuragi, NERVs Director of Operations in Tokyo-3".

On the _other_ hand...

* * *

Shinji Ikari felt he should have been surprised when he spotted Ryoji Kaji waiting at the Central Dogma level entrance/exit to the Headquarters pyramid that brooded over the Geofront.

But he wasn't.

He found himself uncertain if the lack of surprise was because in his currently paranoid state he wasn't really able to be surprised by much of anything, or if was just because Kaji seemed to have a way of vanishing and then reappearing for weeks at a time in the most usual places. In either case, his unexpected presence somehow seemed entirely in keeping with the theme of the day of spooks and agendas swirling around Tokyo-3...and him.

"Hey Shinji" the man greeted him as he passed through the security checkpoint and out into the Geofront. "How's things?"

"Fine, I guess" he replied as he walked past the man without slowing, not at all surprised that he just fell into step beside him without blinking. Shinji responded to the unasked for presence by simply ignoring him, shrugging out of his formal NERV jacket as the warmer and more humid Geofront environment started to bite, pulling his phone from one of the pockets and checking it for any messages in passing, but finding none. Asuka and Rei had agreed with him (or more accurately, he and Rei had 'agreed' with Asuka) that there was no point to waiting around after their meetings and they would all head home ... but after the way she had exploded out of the meeting room, he had been hoping for some kind of communication...

"Well that's good to hear" he replied with that casual cheerfulness. "Certainly you look happier than Asuka did when she stormed out of here half an hour ago" he observed.

"...She didn't stop to talk to _you_?" he replied with no small amount of surprise.

"I don't think she even saw me" he replied in far too cheerful tone. "She seemed to be muttering your name, followed by the word 'stupid' a lot with a great deal of clenching and un-clenching of her fists".

"What did I do _now_?" Shinji asked himself - and Kaji, and the _universe_ for that matter- with a sigh, wondering how this day could get much worse. He didn't know what SEELE had said to Asuka, but it couldn't be good if she was in one of _those _moods.

"What man can truly know the mind of a woman, especially one as feisty and fiery as Asuka?" Kaji asked him with a shrug. "But take heart Shinji, I am here with a solution".

"A solution to Asuka - does it involve blunt objects? Because I've tried those, and they just don't work" Shinji deadpanned - winning a look of amusement from Kaji.

"Cute. No, I was thinking I should shout you lunch. After all, Katsuragi asked me to look after both of you while she was away ... and I think it might be best to leave Asuka the apartment so she cools off and won't be tempted to start throwing expensive things at you when you get home".

Shinji considered it. Honestly, he thought Kaji was grossly underestimating how long Asuka could actually stay pissed off. She was the only person Shinji knew who seemed to have the ability to 'bank' her rage away, able to go from angry to calm to angry again almost at will ... but for lack of any better options, a free lunch was _still_ a free lunch. "Sure, uh, thanks?"

"Come on, we'll take my car - I know a great place up in Tokyo-3" the older man slapped his arm across Shinji's shoulders half pulling and half dragging him along to his car, parked just around the corner in a distinctly marked 'No Parking' zone, right up against the large water store next to the pyramid, For once, Kaji actually drove conservatively -for a given value of conservative anyway - along an access road through the lush forest that carpeted this part of the Geofront, taking a quick turn down into a tunnel that had them at a car train station in a matter of minutes. Shinji said nothing during the trip and perhaps sensing his mood, Kaji kept any comments he had to himself.

Moments after the gates with their brooding NERV logo had snapped shut behind them, the train was underway. Descending counterweights built into the sky rail letting them ascend at a surprisingly swift pace into the sky above the verdant greenery. It was truly a spectacular sight, but Shinji had long lost any joy from the sight. Forever now this sky would belong to the harpies of the Mass Production Evangelions in their frenzied and animalistic state as they descended upon Unit Two-

-("That _Loathsome _Evangelion")-

He shook his head once to clear that voice from his head again, the violent gesture earning a glance from Kaji, but no more until they entered the forest of buildings that hung from the roof of the massive cavern. Moments later they plunged into a tunnel at the side of the dome and the outside world fell to darkness, broken only by the yellow lights placed at intervals in the wall.

Almost at once, Kaji reached out and tapped several buttons on the car radio, far too quickly for Shinji to follow the sequence, a light on the panel flashing blue for a split second as he finished.

"Wonderful things train tunnels" the older man told him with his trademark grin as he leaned back in his sports cars plush seat. "Trying to monitor communications in them is all but impossible - even with the very best equipment and very best people. The tunnel itself completely cuts off any transmitter weak enough not to be easily detected by a counter-intelligence scan, and the background noise ... well, even the MAGI would have the devil of a time trying to filter _that _racket out any microphone picked up".

"But it's still _possible_?" right? Shinji clarified quickly.

Kaji just grinned, nodding towards the radio he had just played with.

"I just made sure it's _impossible" _he gestured at the blue light. "White noise generator built into the radio - completely natural sounding in this environment, but with it running we're clear of any possibility of anyone overhearing. We've got six minutes until we exit this tunnel ... if you have anything you want to say, that is" he added, his grin fading to a somewhat more concerned look.

Shinji exhaled the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in and flopped back into his seat, taking a moment to put his thoughts into some time kind of order. He didn't know if Kaji was really concerned with him, or if he just wanted a report for his superiors, but he didn't particularly care.

So he ran through the meeting as quickly as he could. His nagging sense that he knew every one of the committee members somehow. Their enthusiastic praise of all his actions so far, then their attempt to get him away from Mistao and to his Grandfather ... and then his storming out without a great deal of subtlety as he told them exactly what he thought of the offer.

Kaji listened patiently, offering no comment or change of expression on his face, simply seeming to absorb it all until Shinji finished.

"So" he said, leaning back in his chair with a somewhat satisfied look on his face. "Everything went just about as well as could be expected then".

Shinji just started at him.

"Kaji...didn't you hear what I just said?!"

"Every word" the other confirmed.

"…then you heard that I stormed out of there after yelling at all of them, including my Grandfather? And more importantly, at _Keel Lorenz_ who let me know that I had given him everything he needed to know about me, before I-"

"Calm_ down_" the other said, his voice not raised yet holding all manner of undertones of commanding professionalism that it cut right across his rambling and silenced him. "Shinji, Paranoia for people like us is a healthy thing but there is a point where it becomes _dangerous_. If you start to see threats everywhere and in everything, you'll end up missing the _real _threats that are out there".

"I know that" he replied, trying not to sound like he was sulking, as he closed his eyes and leaned back to try and frame his thoughts. "But I just couldn't help but snap at them. I know I shouldn't have, I know I should have just kept calm, but I let my emotions explode when they said those words that triggered those memories, at my Grandfather, at Keel, I just … couldn't help it".

"So you acted like a somewhat angry teenager thrown into a war – big shock there" the other shruged. "Shinji, don't worry about Keel. Forget about your Father. Neither of them are your concern".

"…what?" Shinji managed to get out, for a sudden irrational moment wondering If someone had 'gotten' to Kaji. "How can you possibly say they are not my-"

"Because it's the truth" the other cut him off, a sudden bluntness in his voice cutting him off mid-protest. "Your job is _not_ to deal with your Father or SEELE. Your job – your _only _job, is to pilot your Evangelion. Nothing more, nothing less".

Shinji felt a mixture of confusion and even anger coming on at that statement.

"_Not my job?" _he fumed at the other, some part of him knowing that he was sounding like a petulant child but unable to help himself. "Do you have any idea what I've been through-"

"Yes, and that is _precisely _the reason you need to stay away from these people" Kaji replied, his tone firm and his expression completely unimpressed by the anger he was showing. "You're not an intelligence agent Shinji – and you are _far _too emotionally invested in this. All you'll do if you try to go up against someone like Keel is get yourself killed. Or even worse, get picked up by one of SELLES wet-work teams and tortured until you tell them everything you know - which would almost certainly lead to the destruction of everything we've worked for, the deaths of all your friends and hand Third Impact to SEELE on a silver platter".

The sheer brutal directness of Kaji's statement cut through his whirling barrier of frustrated anger like a strong wind, tearing away his comfortable angst in a moment and leaving only a sudden chill in the air in its place as the train _clacked_ along.

"There are three possible scenarios ahead of us we are trying to prevent Shinji" the other continued after letting the warning hang in the air for a time. "One, the Angels win this time and humanity is destroyed at their hand. Two, your Father implements Third Impact after the Angels are defeated. Or three, SEELE do so with their own resources. Of those scenarios, which is the only one which you can _directly _make a difference in stopping, on a level that no-one else on this planet can?"

Shinji exhaled slowly, trying to let his emotions flow out with his breath as, unwillingly, he came to the only possible conclusion the question would allow as he stared out into the tunnel depths.

"The defeat of the Angels" he admitted to the other, grudgingly, glaring at the tunnel wall as they slowly leveled out from their step climb, the car train under them shuddering and rocking slightly as it disengaged from the counterweight system that had helped haul it up into the sky and pushed onwards under its own power.

"Shinji, look at me" Kaji said, his tone firm, but not harsh, and despite himself, Shinji turned back to face the other, who despite his typically sloppy appearance none the less held an deadly serious look on his face for once.

"Ikari, you are the _only_ _person_ on this planet who has the skills, knowledge and, frankly, the talent to stop the Angels. Ignore SEELE and Keel and ignore your Father. People _suited_ to dealing with them are already drawing up their plans – and they don't need your Evanglion sized boot prints messing things up for them. Men, even powerful men, are something _we_ can deal with. Twenty story aliens with the firepower to blow JSSDF divisions into scrap metal inside five minutes are not - that's _your _job. Focus on the mission and the other pilots who, if they know it or not, are reliant on you to keep them alive with your skills and knowledge of what is coming for them. Because if you go off half cocked trying to be a superhero and solve _everything_ yourself, there is only one way this will end. And if you do get yourself killed and leave us open to the Angels _or_ your Father _or_ SEELE ... then unlike the last time in your history, _this_ time the responsibility for the destruction of mankind _will _fall on your shoulders".

* * *

Misato glared at the main screen inside the Geological Survey Command Truck, as if by doing so the computer would flinch and finally show the secrets it concealed to her.

It didn't work of course, but it _did _make her feel better.

"You're going too deep!"

Misato glanced away from the screen the figure of Professor Watanabe standing just behind and next to her. It wasn't fair to be annoyed with the poor man, whose world had just been turned upside down, she knew. Even if his entire research program had been quietly funded by NERV due to some suspicion that the abnormal volcanic activity here may have been the work of an Angel, he had neither known this nor exactly been prepared when the small army of NERV personnel had shown up and simply taken over everything and politely, but firmly, pushed his own people out the door with one weeks enforced vacation at full pay. Even more than that, the sheer pace of the investigation had all but overwhelmed the poor man. She wanted results _now _and was perfectly happy to throw away hundreds of millions of yen worth of equipment if it got her what she wanted. Watanabe, a methodical scientist who had wanted to sit down and carefully plan out a systematic investigation over days or weeks of their findings ... was having trouble keeping up.

Misato Katsuragi had many positive attributes ... but excessive patience was _not_ one she was better known for.

"Another Five Hundred Meters" she ordered over the others objection, and the technician controlling the probe descending through the lava shrugged and hit the controls. Deep under them and made out of some incredible alloys, the heavy duty probe shuddered into life, pulling its way deeper into the heart of the Volcano. Its heavy duty skin was made of the same composite as Evangelion fortified armour and thanks to the massive cooling system on the surface it was connected to, it could handle the heat. But despite the Lava having a viscosity near water, its _wasn't_ water and the pressure on the probe from the sheer mass of molten rock pressing down on it was rapidly increasing as it passed its theoretical maximum depth.

But the monitors showing the sensors watching for any hints of an Angels presence remained silent. Even as lights on the master status display for the probe moved from green to yellow - and a few more from yellow to red.

"Depth Twelve Hundred" the technician called out, a note of urgency coming into her voice. "The pressure resistant partition is cracking".

"Miss Katsuragi!" the professor tried again, and Misato spared him a brief glance, feeling some sympathy for the man whose whole project had been turned upside down by NERV.

But if there _was _an Angel down here, she sure as _hell_ wasn't going to stop now.

"If it breaks, we'll pay for the damage" she assured him before turning back. "Two hundred more" she said in a tone that brooked no objection.

Quickly, more lights on the status board shifted colours as the probe pushed deeper. It was almost certainly well past the point of no return, but as far as Misato was concerned, it was also completely expendable if it got her the information she needed. She glared at the camera feed showing the heart of the Volcano far under the probe, a deep featureless golden glow that neither seemed to get larger nor smaller as the probe sunk down...

And then it happened.

As she was staring at the monitor, a 'shadow' for lack of a better word seemed to slowly form on the screen, a splotch on the bright picture slowly getting darker as the probe descended towards it.

"Hyuga..." she started, only to be cut off by the other.

"I see it" the technician assured her, fingers flying over his board as the shadow continued to solidify into an oval shaped object, flickering wireframe overlays mapping across it in real time as NERVs distant supercomputers leant their awesome processing power to the analysis work. "Definitely not a shadow, range one ten and closing - its right in the middle of the probability zone the MAGI calculated".

"It could be some block of a Peridotite" the Professor put in hesitantly from over her shoulder. "Something that's come up from deeper in the mantle?"

"Its symmetrical" Hyuga frowned in as the image continued to sharpen - in between flickers of static as the systems started to fail on the probe, the wireframe mesh shifting slightly into a perfect ovoid as the probe came closer. "That can't be a natural formation can it?"

"It's ... unlikely" the Professor admitted, glancing at the estimated location of the probe and the object. "And it looks like its sitting just about dead in the middle of this crazy activity zone".

"Come on" Misato muttered, glancing at the screens showing the sensors which remained silent. She was positive this could only be an Angel, but she _needed _the hard evidence...

"Cooling system failure!" the technician on the probe itself called out as an alarm klaxon started to sound. "Breach imminent-"

"We're monitoring a reaction!" Hyuga broke in over the top of her as the screens suddenly started to leap with activity as the probe reached the same depth as the target.

"Start analysis!" she snapped as she stared at the picture. Some kind of detail starting to become clear on the screen and for a split second she thought she could see a figure forming _inside _the shape-

Then a new Klaxon sounded and all the screens went dark.

"The probe has imploded due to the extreme pressure" the technician reported in a flat 'I told you so' tone that Mistao ignored as she leaned in closer to Hyuga as he crunched the numbers, keeping her voice low enough that no-one else could hear her.

"What about the analysis? Did we get enough data?"

"Just barely" the other muttered back, his tone suddenly turning grim. "But it was enough to detect a Blue Waveform pattern".

"Then there isn't any doubt. It's an Angel" .

Hyuga nodded his silent concurrence with her analysis.

At this point, Misato's entire demeanour changed. Gone was the friendly if professional woman working to investigate the situation. Now there was just the military officer who had located the enemy she hated more than anything else in this universe - and wanted to kill it.

"As of this moment, this laboratory is now under the full jurisdiction of NERV" she announced in a loud and clear voice that booked no argument from the few civilians in the room as she swung her gaze around. "Any access to the outside world is prohibited and all records are now re-classified as Top Secret".

Almost at once, all the computer screens in the room except for those Hyuga and a couple of other officers were sitting at blacked out, blazing red 'TOP SECRET' text coming up as the MAGI 'moved in' and took complete control of all computers, communications links and systems. Moments later, the doors to the room opened and a quartet of burley NERV soldiers stepped inside, making a beeline for the Professor and his people who were barely starting to react to the sudden change in the rooms atmosphere from scientific curiosity to martial preparation. The guards had been well chosen for their jobs; towering over the relatively diminutive scientists they had little trouble in gently but firmly ushering them out the door and down the hall to a room where several Lawyers would 'inform' them about what 'Top Secret' meant, before putting them on a VTOL back to Tokyo-3. She had no doubt that they would protest being summarily kicked out of their workplace, but given that it was one phone call from becoming a battlefield, she was equally sure they would thank her later.

And speaking of phone calls.

Leaving the NERV staff as they started to try and massage the thin data they had collected, she pulled her phone and stepped outside the command room, dialed the Operations Line, stepping into an empty room just down the hall labeled the Seismic Wave Analysis Room #1.

"It's me" she said without preamble when Aoba picked up on the second ring. "I need you to request an A-17 declaration from Commander Ikari, top priority!"

* * *

"An A-17 - you want to launch an _offensive attack? _An attack to _capture _an Angel?"

Gendo shifted his gaze -without moving his head- from Keel at the opposite end of the table to Michael Richards, studying the other silently for a moment. He idly wondered if the other was objecting because he thought this was a crazy idea ... or because he had been woken at two in the morning, his time, for an urgent conference after he had stayed up late for the earlier meeting with the Children.

Frankly, he couldn't care less, but if this meeting was generating discomfort to some of the members of the Committee, so much the better.

"That is correct" he replied evenly to the other, keeping even the slightest hint of enjoyment at the others irritation out of his voice.

"In the name of God, why?" Keisuke Hachisuka spluttered from down the table. "Have you forgotten what happened fifteen years ago? You already _have _the corpses of two Angels don't you?" _Not to mention Lilith _the other didn't say, but Gendo heard his irritating Japanese shadow say it loud and clear none the less.

"Yes, but there remain wide gaps in our knowledge from what we found fifteen years ago. The Angels have arrived with more varied forms and capabilities than were anticipated; the opportunity to capture a live sample and study its evolution under ... _controlled_ circumstances is not something NERV can afford to pass up. And further, this is our first chance to move from a state of perpetual defence onto an offensive posture, should capture prove impossible. Before it can mature and attack on its own terms".

There was silence for a moment, before Keel spoke up as he rendered his decision.

"Proceed then Ikari. But know that we will _not _tolerate failure" the other warned with atypical bluntness, before he and the others vanished as the connection was severed.

Standing behind him as the lights in his office slowly came back up, Fuyutsuki snorted in derision at Keels closing statement.

"If we fail, it'll mean completing the destruction of mankind we begun fifteen years ago. Ikari...are you absolutely sure about this?"

The fact that Ikari did not reply but simply grinned from behind his steepled hands did not fill the one time Professor with either confidence _or_ reassurance.

* * *

"That's an Angel?"

Shinji Ikari had dreaded this day for a long time. Once again, he found himself staring at the nightmare scenario that had been haunting his dreams, the alien looking picture of the Angel deep inside Mount Asima.

The image _looked _so perfectly harmless it was hard to credit the terrible risk it represented. He didn't know if this had been its plan, if its apparent helplessness was an elaborate trap to lure an Evangelion onto its home turf where it could be easily dealt with, or, if it had just been incredibly bad timing ... but in either case, he knew that it had been sheer dumb_ luck _that Asuka had not died when it had awoken and engaged her - and even more luck that he had not joined her when following his heart over his head, he had leapt into the Lava and saved her life.

The difference between success and failure here was so terrifyingly _minuscule_ it was all he could do to keep his voice steady as he asked the question he already knew the answer to.

"Correct" the Doctor replied, pointing a remote control at the floor and switching to an animation of an Eva descending grasping with a long thin rod grasped in both hands, closing the distance and 'securing' the Angel in an Electromagnetic-Cage, at which point the pair started to the surface. "It appears to be some kind of chrysalis containing a juvenile or embryonic form of the Angels we've been seeing. The primary objective of this mission is to capture the Angel in this state for further study".

"And if we fail?" Asuka put in from next to him. He glanced at her, and she continued to ignore him. He had not had a chance to talk to her since the call had come in, as he had just been finishing an actually rather pleasant lunch with Kaji when he had been recalled to the Geofront. But it was rapidly becoming clear whatever had irritated her earlier was still doing so.

"Then your standing orders are to destroy the Angel" Akagi answered. "Clear?"

"Yes Ma'am" Asuka - and Rei - replied together.

"Shinji, do you understand?" Akagi pressed after his silence became an almost heavy thing in the room.

Shinji, mentally took a deep breath but did not look up from the schematics of the D-Type equipment flicking by on the screen, in favour of drawing out the moment for just a fraction longer ... before he replied.

"Who came up with this plan?" he said in an even tone.

"I did" Akagi replied after a pause. "Why?"

"Because this is the most recklessly _stupid_ idea anyone has ever presented for an Evangelion operation" he replied with completely atypical bluntness as he raised his gaze to those opposite him, noting the way Maya's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open slightly in shock - although if that was due to his rudeness or because he had questioned her mentor, he couldn't know.

" And ... why is that?" Akagi replied in a surprisingly even tone, placing her hands in the pockets of her lab coat as she studied him in return, clearly willing to humor him for now.

"Because Kamakazi missions went out of fashion in this country seventy years ago" he replied succinctly, ignoring what sounded suspiciously like a snort from Asuka.

"We're not sending you on a suicide mission Shinji" Akagi said reprovingly, switching the screen at their feet to a diagram of the D-Type equipment. "The D-Type equipment is specifically designed for extreme environments and will keep the Evangelion safe-"

"In _theory _keep us safe" he countered the other, fighting to keep his voice calm and level. He had to win this debate with logic, anything else and he knew they would just ignore him. "If D-Type equipment can handle Lava is immaterial to my point. You are sending an Evangelion into a situation where it will be _helpless_ if this at _any _point the Angel decides to take objection to what we're doing".

"The MAGI have run multiple simulations" Maya tried to be helpful as Akagi stared at him, her brow furrowed in thought. "The odds-"

"Maya, tell me this; how long will it take the Evangelion to descend to the Angels depth in the Lava? he asked, switching his gaze to her, trying to do his keep his tone and expression cool and emotionless ... like his Father.

"Well, uh" she floundered and stammered under his very direct look, before pulling herself together. "One, perhaps two minutes?"

"And how long will it take to get it _up _from the Angels depth, should it reactwhen it senses the approach of an Evangelion and turns hostile?"

"Well, that would be slower" the other admitted. "If the Eva dropped its ballast, perhaps ... three minutes?"

"Three...minutes" he drew out the two words as his gaze switched back and forth between the two women opposite him, their faces a contrast in emotions as one hid them and the other wore them on her sleeves. "Three _minutes_ during which an Evangelion would be helpless. Trapped in an environment this Angel lives in. Trapped without _any_ ability to maneuver. Where _none_ of the weapons designed for an Evangelion can be used. Where the _only _thing an Angel has to do is pulse an AT field for a _split _second and sever the cable, or move up and sever it physically ... and what exactly happens _then, _Maya_?_"

Shinji couldn't help but feel for Maya - she had always been a kind, quiet if somewhat diffident person to him and the rest of the pilots and didn't deserve his scorn. He couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt as he kept a glare focused at her, but he _had _to get this operation stopped.

"It, uh, it ... that is, the Evangelion would sink until it was either crushed by the pressure" she stuttered out, unable to meet his gaze and focusing on the looping video at her feet as she was forced to confront the glaring flaw in this whole insane idea, "or, once the internal batteries run out and the life support system fails ... well, the entry plug ... I mean the pilot-"

"- would be boiled alive by the conducted heat" he finished the thought. "And I think we came close enough to _that _with the 5th Angel he added, causing Maya again to glance away, unable to meet his gaze, before he turned back to face Akagi, whose expression may as well have been carved from granite. "You want to put one of us into an immobilized Evangelion, dangling at the end of a cable like a lure on a fishing line, and hope that the Angel will _not _decide to take a bite out of us, when every other time an Evangelion has made its presence known to an Angel, it has gone _out of its way _to try and destroy us".

Pausing to let his words sink in, he started to shake his head.

"Sorry, but if _this_ is the best plan you can come up with-"

"Um Gottes willen!"

Shinji's head wrenched to a halt in the motion of starting to shake, focusing on Asuka as she broke in over his speech and, smooth as you will, drew all the attention in the room to her with her explosion of German.

"If Ikari is too damn gutless to take the fight to the enemy, _I'll _do it" she declared.

Shinji felt his jaw drop as the room suddenly started to spin. Or more likely it was just his head spinning. What_ ..._

"Very well - Asuka, you will take point on this mission" Akagi pushed forward rapidly, clearly eager to wrap this up before anyone could change their mind - or before he could recover his wits and start objecting again. "Rei, you will deploy with her to provide topside security and backup. Shinji, you will remain here on standby".

"Wait" he managed to find his voice as he tore his gaze away from the now preening Asuka and trying not to sound petulant, "I'm staying _here_?"

"You have the most experience engaging Angels with limited or no support" Akagi pointed out and, oddly, Shinji couldn't help but feel an irrational anger spring up at the fact her tone remained completely analytical without any hint of glee or gloating at the sudden redundancy of his objections thanks to Asuka stepping up to the plate. "If the Angels do attack Tokyo-3 while two thirds of our forces are elsewhere, you are the best person to remain on station. Asuka, as this is an A-17 order" she continued, turning away from him to glance at the Second Child who all but _glowed_ under the attention, "we will scramble as soon as Unit Two has been equipped with the D-Type equipment and you have been equipped with the special heat resistant entry plug suit".

"See you up there then!" Asuka beamed and without further comment, the two elder women made a hasty beeline towards the far exit. Asuka made a satisfied noise before spinning around, not even deigning to look at him as she strode confidently for a different exit, that would take her to the locker room, leaving him standing in the darkness in a confused daze.

Then anger burned through the shock as his face flushed.

His fists clenched into tight balls as he glared at Asukas retreating form. He was trying to save that damn girl's life - and she was treating this like some kind of _game_ to one-up him?!

He started to move after her. Not even half a step, perhaps even just a shifting of his weight to storm after her and _demand_ answers about why she seemed to have done a 180 degree turn from their new understanding of each other they _had_ seem to come to-

But, as always, Ayanami needed only the most gentle touch on his shoulder to freeze him in place and drain his anger away.

Halting in the motion of moving after Asuka, Shinji turned to face the other Evangelion pilot in the room, looking oddly 'Rei' like today for some reason with her hair style.

"You will only hurt each other if you demand answers she is not willing to give" the First Child said softly to him.

Those eyes, those mysterious scarlet eyes staring at him from behind her blue fringe once again cut through all his defences. Stilling his anger, silencing his frustration and even pushing aside the panic he wanted to feel at all his efforts not simply being for nothing, but removing _him _from the equation in this operation.

"I don't even know what answers I'm looking for Rei" Shinji admitted with an almost mechanical shrug. "I thought Asuka and I had come to _some _kind of understanding yesterday, then she storms out of that conference - and seems to want to take her anger out on me! Again! Like I'm her personal punching bag!"

"Then, you should feel honoured she has chosen to confide her anger in you above all others" the other replied evenly.

It took a moment for the comment to sink through his scattered thoughts ... and for a long moment afterwards, the only sound in the room was the distant rumble of the air conditioning.

"Rei ..." he finally managed some seconds later. "Was that a _joke_?"

"...That remains to be seen" Rei determined with the slightest of tilts of her head and utterly no clues on her face. "You have concerns about this operation?"

"Concerns? There's a good chance Asuka is going to get herself _killed_ today, Rei" he snapped back at her, before closing his eyes and looking away as he took a moment to leash his emotions more tightly under control.

"Then you question her ability to carry out this mission?" the other asked, her voice not holding any sign that she had taken issue with his outburst.

"...It's not her _abilities_ Rei" he explained with a slow sigh, opening his eyes and again turning to face the First Child - who hadn't changed out of her new NERV dress jacket since meeting the Committee, and looked almost ethereal in the limited light from the room. "It's her judgment. Her abilities, her training, none of it will mean anything if that Angel turns on her while she is in that Volcano. Between trying to take on the 6th Angel with a Progressive Knife and charging out like a madwoman against the 7th Angel without thinking ... she never had to go through the hell you did at the hands of Unit Zero. Or get thrown into the deep end of Evangelions and straight into combat like I did - she doesn't _fear _the Angels. And thanks to my _stupidity" _he worked his jaw, "I've only made sure that Akagi is going to keep me back here where I can't protect Asuka if she does something stupid. Again".

"...I see" Rei said, before she turned away, silently regarding the Angel's picture.

To most other people, that would have signaled the end of the conversation, but Shinji knew her on a whole different level to 'other people', and so he waited silently as Rei stood there for a time.

"Do you remember when we engaged the Fifth Angel, Ikari?" she finally broke the silence, without turning back.

Shinji blinked.

"How could I forget?" he asked her with some slight surprise. "You saved my life, made the shot that killed it possible - after you were almost killed by it".

"Yes, you saved my life - then trusted me to safe yours, even with Captain Katsaragi yelling at you to fire immediately" Rei nodded.

"I remember" he nodded slowly, frowning as he wondered where she was going with this.

"There was only a three second window between you calling for me to cover you and when the Angels particle beam was fired" she pointed out, her head turning just far enough for her to regard him out of the corner of her eye. "You held fire instead of taking the shot, risking that the Angel would destroy you, when you called for me to shield you".

"Because I knew you wouldn't hesitate to protect me - any more than I would hesitate to protect you" Shinji replied with complete honestly, feeling an odd flush on his cheeks at the frank admission of just how deep his trust of her went.

Rei however simply nodded.

"Because you trusted me to protect you".

"Well ... yes, of course. I trust you - with my life" he replied in confused honestly, still not really sure where she was going.

"Then trust me once again" she said, turning to face him more fully. "I will protect Asuka".

The phrase was matter of fact, even trite sounding... yet inside those words there was _something_. It was more than a statement, more than a guarantee - it was almost as if Rei had etched a promise into fate itself (and given his experiences with Third Impact, he honestly couldn't be sure she _couldn't _do so). A surety that this _would _be so, come what may.

And for the first time in a long time of nightmares and fears that had preceded this day, Shinji Ikari felt something approaching acceptance take a hold of him. And almost as if she could see that change in him, Rei nodded once, again ever so slightly, and turned away, her lithe form gliding across the room into the darkness, leaving only the muted clicking of her footsteps as he remained behind, deep in consideration.

"Ikari?"

He raised his head as the doorway opened, the light from outside silhouetting Rei and washing out all features.

"Yes Rei?"

"I still expect you and Asuka to serve dinner tonight. My apartment. At seven PM" she said before, without waiting for a response, stepping through the door that at once snapped shut behind her.

Alone in the room, Shinji Ikari couldn't help but smile for the first time today.

* * *

This was _not _how she had envisioned her first combat assignment as the point Eva unit.

Suspended above a Volcano, her Eva 'wearing' an incredibly cumbersome D-Type extreme environment suit ... and worst of all, she was stuck wearing this ... this _thing_.

Her training had not included this 'Heat Resistant Entry Plug Suit' - and she knew it had to be because NERV knew if they had tried to get her to put this on, she would have _hurt_ people. Ridiculous didn't quite describe how she knew she looked right now, but no-one had been silly enough to draw attention to the elephant in the room and laugh at her.

Yet.

Still, she tried to force it out of her mind as she listened to the technicians go over the final stages of their preparations. The suit actually came with a helmet that would isolate her from the entry plug environment entirely, so that even if it got beyond human tolerances, she could continue to pilot ... but as the only way for her to wear it was for her to cut her hair, she had simply left it behind. She wasn't going to pass out, not on her first mission taking the lead instead of Der _Unbesiegbare_ Shinji!

Even just thinking about him however ripped her thoughts back off-mission. She had been dealing with those Committee members many times over the last year and it had always been the same boring stuff. Praising her work, running through her progress, updating her on their plans in the event of an Angel attack. She had last met with them just before Unit Two had been shipped across Europe to Vladivostok and from there via ship to Tokyo-3, and they had been excited that she was going to finally be going into action, bringing leadership and expertise to the theatre of war she had been preparing for her entire life ...

But this morning, they had barely spent two minutes congratulating her on her accomplishments before they had pressed her about Ikari.

And not just pressed her, but gone on and on and _on_ about him, taking her completely off guard as they pressed her for her views on Shinji Ikari.

Eventually the Chairman, Keel, had put a stop to it, chiding his subordinates and congratulating her on her accomplishments as she was dismissed, but it was far too late to take back the 'interrogation' they had subjected her to.

She had barely come to terms with her 'relationship' with Ikari, or at least she _thought_ she had come to terms with it. She had seen sides to Shinji he had shared with no-one else - and even under the barrage of questions from the committee, she had not betrayed what he had told her in confidence that night she had barged into his room without so much as a 'by your leave'. But it also meant that no-one saw Ikari in the way _she _saw him. All _they _saw was the unstoppable Angel killing machine. The perfect prodigy who almost no formal training, had torn through the most powerful enemies man had ever gone up against without fear or hesitation.

All they saw when they looked at him was what _she _was supposed to be. While _she _looked like little more than an increasingly poor return of investment for ten years of work given her performance to date.

But _she _knew it wasn't true! _She_ knew the real Ikari - and when he had hesitated on this plan, she had jumped at the chance to step forward and shine. It was a high risk plan, she wasn't so foolish as to not see that, but it was also a high-reward plan. Not simply defeating and Angel, but capturing a living sample for analysis?

Now _that _would make her stand out and remind everyone just who they were dealing with! Not that it would make Ikari look bad or undermine his accomplishments against the Angels, so much as make _her_ look _good_.

She ... just wished she didn't look so utterly stupid.

Looking across her entry plug's super-high definition HUD as she put the thoughts out of her mind, she glanced down at Unit Zero standing like a sentry at the edge of the Volcano. A number of flatbed trucks behind it held standard Pallet Rifles and Rocket Launchers along with an assortment of Progressive weapons, positioned in case the Angel reacted poorly to being yanked out of the Volcano. Doctor Akagi had assured her that despite Shinji's misgivings, the odds of any activity from the Angel before that point were near zero, as the Angel had been observed being moved around the volcano currents without reaction. And so long as she didn't activate her AT field, there was no reason it should react to being moved up...but once it was out of the Lava, it was an open question as to what would happen.

Fortunately, once she was out, it would only take a matter of seconds for her to haul the Angel into the specially designed containment structure that had been set up nearby. And even less time to jettison the Type-D equipment and switch to a conventional engagement with Rei should it prove necessary. Simple, straight forward, easy. While all war was risk, this was a well calculated one in her mind.

Her attention was taken away from Rei however as she caught a glimpse of something moving in the sky, too high for contrails, but unmistakably moving in the air. Refocusing her targeting systems, the quad-optical array shifted slightly to compensate for the thick transparent material of the D-Type faceplate and stabilized on a trio of aircraft - _B-83 Bombers_- she marked them, the EVAs computers automatically interrogating the UN Battle Net and tagging them with their transponder data, payload each of eight N2-

_What?!_

"Doctor Akagi" she asked, switching her view to the canopy a hundred meters away where the Doctor and her assistant - Maya wasn't it? - were working on the last little things that needed to be tweaked.

"_Go, Asuka_"

"_Why_ are there a flight of strategic bombers carrying N2 weapons in a holding pattern overhead?"

_"Ah. Yes, they're here in case we mess up" _the other said calmly.

"Meaning?" she asked, a slight feeling of unease coming over her.

"_If things here go badly, the UN forces will make a direct attack on the Angel using N2 depth charges to destroy it - and us along with it_" Maya explained. _Far _too cheerfully.

Asuka felt her jaw clench at the statement.

"Who would order something like _that?_" she demanded, knowing that Mistao didn't have a death wish the last time she had checked...

"_Commander Ikari_" Akagi replied, and Asuka was damned if she could _hear _the other smirking over the Com Line.

It was at that point that she started to wonder if Shinji's clear loathing for his Father might well have some level of justification, but as the laser ahead of her on the massive crane fired, she knew she was well out of time to waste time wondering about such things, clearing her mind and focusing her attention. Those bombers would only act if she screwed up to such a level that she would probably be dead, so they really didn't need to figure in her equations.

Probably.

"_Laser operation complete_" one of the technicians announced, as the laser was shuffled off the track and her EVA rumbled into motion along the tracks to take its place, rocking slightly in the hot air blowing around the crater.

"_Final mapping of descent path has been completed_".

"_Type-D Equipment is in the green_".

"_EVA Unit Two is in position for drop_".

"_Understood_" Misato spoke up next from the nearby command van, as EVA-02 came to a halt directly over the Lava, her image winking into being on her display. _"Asuka, are you ready?"_

Asuka made a quick once over of her systems, working through the checklist. She had only had time to do the briefest training with the equipment on the way up, but her eidetic memory ensured she went over the abbreviated checklist without missing a single step.

"Cooling systems check. EM Cage" she paused and worked the long and cumbersome rod secured between the massive pincer like hands of the Type-D suit, feeling that it was firmly in place and not likely to come loose, "check. Type-D Progressive Knife" she glanced at her Type-D suits 'thigh' where the only weapon rated for this environment was strapped on, "check. I _told_ you I'd get to go Scuba Diving Misato!"

Misato's expression twitched ever so slightly as she suppressed the smile that tried to fight its way onto her face as she tried to remain in her stoic 'Operations Director' mode as she spotted Akagi and Maya walking into the van behind her and taking their places.

"Alright then, let's do it. Deploy!"

EVA-02 shuddered as the massively powerful motors started to ease out the ice covered coolant lines and drop the Evangelion towards the Lava. Asuka couldn't help but wince slightly as she saw herself getting closer and closer to the molten rock, but her primal human instincts telling her that this was a _bad _idea that Shinji had stirred with his speech this morning were pushed to the side as best she could as she made a final check of her status boards, knowing that if something was going to go wrong, her abort window was rather ... slim.

"_Unit Two is approaching the Lava"._

Bracing herself, Asuka felt Unit Two shudder as it made contact with the molten rock. It did not give way quite as smoothly as water would have ... at least she though it didn't. Wearing this blasted Type-D equipment turned her normally perfect feedback from Unit Two into something entirely different, like trying to perform ballet while wearing heavy winter survival gear, or trying to pick up grains of sand while wearing oven gloves.

Still, she _sunk _well enough, and she was forced again to suppress a slight spike of adrenalin as the surface world vanished behind the scarlet and featureless world of the volcano, with only a brighter yellow glow directly under her that she was descending into providing any reference point at all.

She was now truly on her own.

"Current Depth, fifty - rate of descent, twenty" she called back the readings as EVA-02 settled into a steady descent. "No problems detected but visibility is zero I can't see a thing ... switching to CT monitor" she said, flicking the appropriate switch. The Computer Tracking system pulled data from broadband EM, high frequency sonar and sophisticated thermal imaging systems built into the D-Type suit, passing it onto her Evangelions sophisticated computers which crunched the data and mashed it into a single unified picture... but even that effort earned a look of annoyance from the Second Child as the flat red picture shifted to a somewhat more distinct one with traces of darker rock and depth to it. "Even _with _the CT Monitor I can barely see a hundred, maybe one twenty meters!"

_Still_, she grumbled to herself, _it's better than nothing_. Glancing at a secondary display which showed a rough map of the volcano, she noted her progress as Maya calmly read off her increasing depth. The target was sitting at the very top of a relatively shallow magma chamber and the vent to it was a straight drop down which made things vastly more simple than it may have been. If it had needed her to make turns or twists as she descended...

And that was when her suit started to creak.

Despite her experience, despite her training, despite the countless times on the way from Tokyo-3 she had gone over what to expect, that same primal part of her mind that had earlier told her to _not_ do this once again shrieked that this was _crazy _as the armour around her creaked, groaned and moaned. She did her best to just ignore it, running her gaze over the diagnostic displays, all shining a bright and highly reassuring green for now.

But the noises continued none the less. And again, she had to suppress Shinji's warnings about this whole operation, telling herself that this was all going to plan. And none the less, she clenched her teeth and watched as the depth counter continued to increase, with a parallel readout of the depth by Maya on the surface as she descended steadily deeper and deeper into the volcano. The rate of descent started to slow as she moved past the D-Type's maximum listed safe depth at a bit over a kilometre, but she tried not to worry too much about that. Dr Akagi had explained that while _technically _the Angel was at a depth just beyond the D-Type equipment limits, the suit was ridiculously over engineered - and with a fully operational external cooling system, the Doctor had projected that they could go easily to 1500 meters, quite probably as much as 2500 in fact, without major risk.

It had seemed perfectly reasonable on the surface. After all, Akagi _was _the woman who had designed the thing...

... but it seemed rather less of a 'sure thing' now, deep inside a volcano, the creaking growing louder as the pressure continued to rise around her.

"_Depth is 1300 and holding_" Maya called as she slowed more, and finally came to a -relative- halt, hanging perfectly suspended in the heart of the lava..

...but there was nothing here.

"_Asuka, what do you see?_" Misatos voice came down the line.

Asuka pushed the gain on her systems as high as they would go, her display pixilating as she pushed it right to the limit, looking intently for the distinctive oval shaped form, but...

"It's not here" she replied, her brow furrowing as she studied the readouts. "No visual, no Blue Waveform, no hard contact - I'm not detecting anything!"

"_It seems the lava currents are faster than we thought at this depth_" Akagi said, a communications window from the doctor snapping open next to Misato's on her screen, with a slight frown crossing her face.

"_The targets movement certainly doesn't seem to match our model_" she heard Hyuga put off from off screen. "_But we might be able to have the MAGI recalculate from the data Unit Two has collected"_

Mistao's expression did not change one wit.

"_Make it fast Hyuga. Resume the descent_".

At once, she felt Unit Two start to descend again and Maya continued to call out the depth as she moved deeper into the Magma chamber, Asuka flinching despite herself, caught off guard by Mistao's unilateral decision to continue past the maximum safe depth. The heat inside the entry plug was starting to become noticeable now. Not _uncomfortable_ - at least not yet, but it was clearly rising ... and she fought down a spike of anxiety as several indicators on her status displays moved out of the safe green zones into the yellow zones-

She would have jumped, if the massive plug suit and her entry plug restraints had allowed it, when the creaking and groaning was joined for a second by the distinct sound of _something _breaking.

"_A crack has occurred in the second coolant pipe_" another NERV technician put in from the command van, and a light on her coolant system went from green to orange, Asuka calling upon her iron will to keep her expression under control and not show any sign of concern to those who she knew were watching her.

Assessing her.

Judging her.

Including _him_.

"_Depth fourteen eighty, we are over the maximum allowed depth_" Maya called, and for the first time, Asuka could hear the slightest hint of something in her voice beyond the cool and calm tone she had been presenting through this operation.

"_But we haven't made contact with the target_" Misato answered, her gaze shifting to look directly into 'her' picture on the command vans holographic wall, which in turn projected Misato's image directly to her. "_Asuka, status_?"

Asuka ran an eye over the displays once again. More of the lights were moving into the caution zone, but were still at the low end - except for the single coolant pipe with the crack... although the internal temperature was continuing to steadily increase.

"Looks like we're still okay..." she started to say, before there was a sudden _snapping _sound that caught her heart in her throat, sudden images of the cables _snapping _as Ikari had prophesied slamming into her until she spotted the Progressive Knife that had been strapped onto her suits leg falling away.

"_EVA Unit Two has lost its prog kinfe" _Asuka distantly heard the technician call out down the line as she struggled to keep her composure and get herself under control through the sudden flood of epinephrine injected into her system.

"_Maximum allowed depth plus _two hundred_"_ Maya called, the hint of rebuke in her voice starting to get stronger now.

"_Captain, there is a human being in that Eva_" Hyuga finally protested - and Asuka made a note in the back of her head to do something nice for the man looking out for her like that at some point in the future.

"I am in command here" Mistao replied, her expression not shifting from whatever status board she was staring at on Asuka's HUD. "Continue the descent".

Asuka couldn't help but notice, again, that Misato had not actually _asked_ her opinion on this, but pushed her increasing unease with this whole situation aside as she shifted slightly in the hugely cumbersome plug suit. She was almost to the revised depth she noted, aborting at _this_ stage would be incredibly stupid.

"Thanks Hyuga" she instead called up, pointedly ignoring Misato as she had pointedly ignored _her_. "But we're almost there, there isn't any point to turning back now".

If Misato had anything to say to her subtle rebuke, she held her tongue as Maya came back into the conversation.

"Depth is One Seven Eight Zero. We have reached the MAGI's adjusted depth".

Asuka at once pushed any thoughts out of her mind except the immediate, scanning the area around her with the greatest of care, looking for any hint, any sign of the Angel -

She spotted the shape that seemed to materialize out of the dark red and black of her world a split second before the targeting systems shrill beep as it sniffed out the very subtle hint of an AT field at very low power levels.

"Wait..._there _it is" she breathed as it seemed to 'rise' to meet her - or more accurately, she descended to its depth.

"_The target is in sight_" Hyuga confirmed from the surface as her descent slowed to a crawl, her EVA drifting ever so slowly towards the Angel.

"Prepare for capture" Misato ordered, and Asuka hit the controls. Praise be, the reinforced EM boom activated exactly as designed, the 'rod' she was holding with the claw like manipulators bucking slightly as it telescoped out left and right to twice its length, additional spars unlocking at the ends to form something vaguely cage like.

"_Alright_" Akagi's voice came down the line, cool and professional. "_Because you and the target are being moved by the convection currents and given the depth its sunken to, we'll have exactly one shot at this_".

"I understand" Asuka replied shortly, "leave it to me".

Asuka pushed aside the knowledge of just how much rock was pressing down on her right now. She put aside her knowledge of the temperatures outside, she ignored the increasingly stifling heat inside the Entry plug and she most assuredly ignored everything that could have gone wrong, focusing all of her concentration on the Angel, her Eva and her approach knowing that all this would be for nothing if she screwed this up.

"_T-Minus twenty seconds to contact_" Hyuga stated.

"Relative closing rate two point two" Asuka calculated out loud, making the most subtle and delicate shifts to her Evangelion that in turn shifted the D-Type equipment she was wearing and the cage it was holding as she moved around to orient herself on the target.

This was by far the most delicate maneuver ever performed by an Evangelion in the field with only the most crude of corrections available to her. Nothing any of the pilots had ever done before had demanded anything like this level of skill, but such was Asuka's focus right now that her typically overpowering ego was entirely absent over that fact. She didn't so much as blink as she drifted closer, her mind raging as she calculated angles and trajectories, her Evangelion making the most subtle shifts as she closed that adjusted her path through the magma and her orientation. Her Synchronization Ratio, unnoticed by anyone right now, slowly crept upwards as she closed, time seeming to move both painfully slow and far too fast as they came together, her lips moving silently as she talked herself through it.

_Vorsichtig, gaaanz vorsichtig, dann ist er in der Falle. Näher... Näher... Jetzt!_

And with exquisite timing, she slammed her controls forward to the stops, Unit Two pivoting on the coolant lines to swing the Cage down around the Angel with her directly above it, her hands _almost _touching it -

And a series of bright line snapped out, perfectly enclosing the Angel inside a shimmering rectangle of energy. And as she rolled back, the Angel moved with her, held perfectly inside the middle of the 'cage'.

And all without the slightest reaction from the target.

"Electromagnetic cage deployed" she reported, unable to help herself as her utter focus started to drain away, a grin starting to appear on her face as she stared at the silent form of the 8th Angel, trapped now inside the web of electromagnetic energy of the AT Field Neutralization Zone. "The target, has been _captured_".

* * *

Some distance to the South, Shinji Ikari did not exhale, did not grin and did not fist bump as many of the technicians around the command centre in NERV Central were doing - the frequency of which increased the further away one got from the Commander and Vice Commander.

While operational control of the A-17 was devolved to Misato in the Type-14 Command Van, the center was none the less fully manned, both in case anything went wrong and to maintain the datalink between the MAGI and the distant field team. Shinji had walked into the command centre without so much as a by-your-leave and neither his Father nor the Vice Commander had made any comment of his presence. Although if it was because they didn't think there was anything odd about his presence or because they just couldn't be bothered telling him to leave, he didn't know nor care.

The massive floor-to-ceiling holographic screen was dominated by a live feed from EVA-02, the Eighth Angel visibly encased in its cage. He could tell that everyone, from Shigeru Aoba next to him on down was relaxing. The Angel had been captured, nothing had happened, and all that was left was returning to the surface.

He knew better.

"_The operation has been completed" _Asuka made it official, her image shifting from one of utter concentration into the more familiar smirk. "_I am beginning my ascent"_.

At once, the motors started back up, working to haul the Evangelion and the Angel it was carrying up to the surface.

"_Ascent is steady, weight is well under system tolerances_" Maya called from the command van. _"The Target is still completely silent, everything looks normal"._

"_Like I said, a piece of cake_" Asuka agreed before shifting her focus slightly and seeming to look directly at him. Which come to think of it, she probably was from the way her grin widened. _"Hey, Shinji, who looks like a paranoid scaredy cat now huh?"_

"Don't be insulted Shinji" Aoba muttered to him a moment later, before he could respond. "That's just her-"

"-Letting off stress" Shinji finished the others statement with a nod, before looking up into her eyes, keeping his voice vastly calmer than he actually felt as his tension ascended alongside her Evangelion. "Asuka. You're over a mile into a Volcano with an Angel about ten meters away from you. This isn't over, not yet. _Stay focused_".

"_Hmph_" the other snorted back at him, but praise be, for once she didn't get into a debate with him. Instead, she just sat back in her seat, then frowned and shifted as she tried in vain to make the heat resistant plug suit more comfortable. "_And if that wasn't bad enough, I'm damn sure this Plug Suit is making things _worse _and not better!"_

"_There's a hot spring not too far from here I'll take you to when we're finished..." _Misato started to promise-

-but she was cut off as all hell broke loose.

Shinji's heart started to pound in his chest as hexagonal ALERT signs snapped on all over the left and right walls of the command center. Asuka and Misato snapped their attention away from each other to their own systems as klaxons started to scream, and Shinji had absolutely no doubt similar alarms were sounding at Mount Fuji as well.

"_What_ _the_ _hell-_" Mistao started to say, before Asuka cut her off.

"_It's going crazy!"_

Feedback speakers around the control room now started to broadcast sound received from EVA-02, a noise that caused Shinji to break out in a sudden sweat inside his plug suit. It was a snarling, enraged noise from something impossibly alien and impossibly powerful that had woken from its slumber to find itself in the hands of its mortal enemies.

"_Oh God_" Akagi's face went white on the screen as Shinji's prophecy came true. "_It's started to hatch!_" The secondary screen next to the primary LIVE picture showed a close in of the shape inside the cage, and even as he watched in near terror, the 'egg' and the oddly human looking embryo inside it both seemed to vanish, mutating into a tentacle wielding monstrosity out of the deepest nightmares of mankind that started at once to thrash at its prison.

"_Cage Status_?" Mistao snapped, what alarm that had passed across her face fading behind the icy combat officer moving into a crisis situation.

"_No _way_ it can hold_" Hyuga declared as the first appendage tore through the energy field, flailing wildly, as if seeking to rend the flesh of those that had so arrogantly presumed to enter its domain and make it their prisoner.

"_Abort the capture, jettison the cage!_" Misato snapped and for once Asuka did not hesitate in following her orders, releasing the cage as the Angel started to push out of its supposed prison. The loss of mass lightened Unit Two somewhat, Asuka's ascent accelerating even as the cage and Angel rapidly sunk under her and were lost to sight.

"_We're changing the operation_" Misato declared as Shinji squeezed his fists...

* * *

"..._the objective is now the destruction of the Angel. Unit Two, stand by to engage!"_

"Roger" Asuka replied, catching sight of _something _moving in the magma around her then, a sleek almost fish like object that at once caused her to flash back to her fight with the 6th Angel underwater.

Of course, _this _time she was actually in an Eva that could damn well defend itself!

Reaching down for her Progressive Knife she ... found nothing there.

Her self confidence vanished inside a second as she belatedly remembered that she had lost the Progressive Knife earlier in her descent.

At that point, the reality of her position hit home. She was, _precisely_ as Shinji had anticipated, strung out on a fragile umbilical in a very hostile environment without any weapons at all. And now, she was up against an Angel that was apparently adapted to the environment, completely mobile ... and apparently _extremely_ pissed off at her, minutes away from any kind of help or ability to defend herself.

_Was zum Teufel soll ich jetzt tun?!_

The proximity alerts shrill beep snapped her out of the moment of frozen horror, her well honed survival instincts brutally pushing any emotion that couldn't help her in the immediate _here _and _now_ as a blur materialized in the murk ahead and below her. The Angel's true form was vastly more intimidating than the 'egg' she had tried to capture, with a sleek almost aquatic looking body and a pair of long tentacle like appendages that looked almost like wings or large fins from head on as it swam through the _molten rock _directly at her, with incredible speed.

But she saw in a split second that its speed was something that she could use to her advantage, waiting an agonizing two seconds as it tore in towards her before she yanked at her controls and twisted. "Releasing ballast!"

A series of explosive bolts fired, releasing a row of weights that had been attached to the Type-D suit's skin. The sudden loss of weight increased her rate of ascent by almost half again, and her timing had been exquisite, pushing her up and out of the path of the Angel as it crashed through where she would have been only a second ago its 'wake' rocking her.

"It's fast!" she breathed as she snapped her head to look back over her shoulder, the Angel rocketing away as it turned into an almost lazy bank to her right side, but a turn so shallow its distance opened and before her eyes, it simply vanished into the red mist of the Magma around her as if it had never been there, her mind reeling at the idea that something so _huge _could vanish so easily and move so quickly. "It's no good, I've lost it!"

"_Rei_" a new voice interjected itself into her cockpit, and her head snapped back around as Shinji Ikari spoke up, his voice almost soothing to her in the way it was still utterly cool and in control. "_You have a Type-D Prog knife don't you?"_

"_Yes_" the other replied from the surface - _safely _on the surface that was!

"Then what are you waiting for Wondergirl, send it down here _now!_" Asuka yelled as she tried to watch every direction in a 360 bubble around her, wondering if the Angel was doing what Shinji had suggested it might and simply going to go for her cable where she couldn't do anything to protect herself, before dismissing the thought. If it did, she was dead and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.

"_Roger_" the First Child responded in an entirely unreasonably calm voice. "_Knife away ...now"_.

"_Knife is in the Lava - thirty seconds to intercept" _Maya called out a moment later and Asuka knew that every second would feel like an hour as she tried to look in every direction for the Angel, but it was her Evangelion's targeting systems that spotted it first, another proximity alarm sounding and directing her attention to her front. The horrid thing had apparently made a complete circle to come at her from head on again - but this time it was coming in much slower, clearly having learned from its mistake.

"_Contact, the Angel is approaching slower this time, estimate forty seconds to contact"_

"_Time to surface_?" Mistao barked

"_One minute, forty - present rate of ascent_" Maya replied and Asuka felt her heart sink again. She had to face this thing for a full _minute_ on its home ground!

"_Make it faster!" _Misato insisted.

"_The motors are already at red-line, any more and we'll strip a gear and the whole rig will shut down!_" Aoba said in the tone of someone who had already tried everything he could, but just couldn't give the answer Misato wanted.

"I can handle it for a minute" she snarled, glaring at the Angel as it approached. Clearly it was not going to fall for the same trick twice ... even if she _had _any extra ballast to drop that was.

"_Knife arrival in ten seconds_" Maya called and Asuka tore her gaze away from the closing enemy, looking above her in the murk desperately. She had one chance to grab this - and she almost missed it as it materialized much closer and further to the side than she had hoped, but her reflexes were up to the task and her cumbersome manipulator snapped closed on the knife, the blade coming to life automatically and sheering through its protecting cover, Asuka at once feeling somewhat back in control of the situation as she brought the blade forward to a ready position.

The Angel didn't seem to be phased in the slightest by her weapon as it entered range, its twin appendages whipping around and then forward. Each ended in something almost like fingers and Asuka at once moved her arms to intercept the first of the strikes that was aimed right at the faceplate in front of her Evangelion's head. The Knife intercepted its tentacle in an explosion of completely impossible sparks, so much so that for a heart stopping second, Asuka thought it had simply shattered the knife, but a split second later it was clear that the knife was intact and screaming as it battled with the appendage. Her left arm managed to deflect the second appendage, but only a moment before it latched onto her left leg and started to squeeze, ignoring the desperate tugging of her arm as she tried to pull it away.

Then its mouth opened.

She fought back the primal terror at the sight of the monster opening its mouth _inside molten rock _and closing its jaws about her head, the Type-D suit screaming its protests at the abuse being inflicted upon it as it latched on and started trying to tear its way in.

A spike of agony seared into her left leg, but she was too well trained to look down at her own leg, recognizing the sensation as feedback from the Evangelion.

"_Left leg breached!_" Maya yelled distantly above her, and Asuka didn't hesitate.

"Sever the Left leg, now!"

Maya apparently didn't hesitate either, and a stabbing agony seared through her for moment as her Evangelions leg was blown clear, memory metal inside the D-Type equipment warping and sealing off the breach in moments under the extreme heat, even as the Angel's arm seemed to fling itself away, as if scalded.

Asuka didn't notice. Sympathetic pain from her Evangelion blazed through as she sacrificed her leg, but once again her training held true as she embraced the pain, screaming as she used it, tearing the Knife free from its inconclusive duel with the Angels other arm to slam it down into one of the important eye-like looking protrusions on the upper surface of the thing-

-and her knife simply bounced off as if she had tried to smash through ten meters of lead with a wooden blade.

"What the hell?!" she yelled as she again tried to punch through, and again, her strikes against the Angels skin doing nothing at all - unlike every other engagement where the weapon had been employed against them.

"_Oh God" _Akagi swore from above, and despite the increasing heat that was really starting to become annoying, Asuka felt a chill at the tone in the Doctors voice. "_The extreme heat has caused the Angels molecular structure to evolve to an extreme density - the Progressive Knife won't penetrate!"_

"So what do I do?" she almost wailed as her knife bounced off again and again in an impressive shower of sparks, but not seeming to even scratch the Angel as her armoured skeleton screamed in protest at the ongoing attack. She could feel panic starting to set in despite her best efforts to control herself, a feeling of dreadful helplessness increasing as the best and brightest of mankind failed to answer her demand for any other option-

"_Asuka_" Shinji's voice re-entered the conversation, and despite her feelings towards Shinji this day, she could not even for a second pretend that his calm, determined tone was not _incredibly_ welcome at that moment. "_The coolant!"_

Asuka Langley Soryu had not graduated as a child from University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering without with a degree in engineering as a child prodigy without having a solid understanding of metallurgy- and she almost instantly realized what Shinji was suggesting.

Without hesitation, she swung her borrowed Progressive Knife down and sliced it through the coolant pipe that fed down into her suits left hand. At once, a flood of coolant spewed out into the magma, but fortunately she was rising fast enough now that the explosive effects of a super-chilled liquid slurry being poured into molten rock was left in a trail under them. So without hesitation or mercy, she drove the arm forward into the Angels gut.

The effects were most gratifying.

Where her progressive knife simply bounced off, the claw like pincers on her arm managed to punch through the skin of the monster as the coolant sprayed all over its skin, shattering like brittle glass as she pushed into its body. A violent shudder passed through the Angel along with a scream of either rage or pain, she did not know which and did not really care, but it was none the less music to her ears.

"Transfer _all _the coolant to cable three, NOW!" she yelled and for once, Misato just did as she was told, diagnostic lights out of the corner of her eye shifting as all the coolant was directed down the line now shoved inside the Angels body, flooding into the beast.

" Nimm das, du verdammtes Ungeheuer!" she screamed her defiance and swung the progressive knife down again as the Angel bucked and writhed. Asuka was in a blood rage, her terror and pain and anger mixing together into a single pulse of pure physical effort as she struck once again with the progressive knife but _this _time the blade cut _deep_, and she dragged it across the upper surface, carving through the Angel as coolant started to spew out from the gaping wounds she was inflicting with her knife as its body thrashed desperately-

And with a final buck and scream, the Angel started to disintegrate, tearing apart as the temperature extremes simply shattered it ...

...but not before in a final death reflex, or perhaps even a last act of pure spite, the arm that had been flailing around wildly as it was wracked with agony from her actions grasped and _tore _into her cables, severing four of them and damaging the last, an explosion of coolant down line three into the Lava causing the last to start to stretch dangerously before the flow was cut off.

And even as the last chunks of the Angel dissolved into the rock, her abused Type-D suit started to buckle, her viewing plates outer layer simply shattering as her communications links vanished into pure static, along with her power line, cutting her off from everything.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she stared numbly at the last tiny thread that linked her to the land of the living from this hell, able to see it clearly failing as the compromised tube was slowly torn in half from the sheer mass of the Evangelion ... but unable to _do _anything about it.

Exactly as Shinji had tried to warn everyone.

Had tried to warn _her_.

"I've done it ... but ... " she said dumbly to anyone and no-one in particular, all of her rage, anger and triumph simply vanishing as if a switch had been thrown, leaving her feeling oddly numb and perhaps tired as she dispassionately analysed the situation. There was nothing she could do. The break was twenty meters above her, her clunky manipulators wouldn't reach the cables without her doing some violent maneuvers that would instantly snap what was left of the rapidly failing link. If she used the emergency jettison protocols and ditched the suit, relying on her Evangelions AT Field to protect her as she tried to scamper up the last few hundred meters to the surface, she would be nowhere near close enough to try and grab a hold of the intact tubes - and her Evangelion was far too heavy to try and swim up to them either.

"That's it then" she said simply, feeling in the strangest way that this was actually happening to someone else and not her as she watched the last of the threads unravel above her. "I'm done for".

And with those words, the final edges of the links _snapped_ and Evangelion Unit Two started to fall, the ghost of the dead Angel taking her to hell with it.

* * *

This is what had been to be Rei Ayanami.

You were a clone, a disposable _thing _created to fulfil a single purpose by Commander Ikari.

There was no question about this. Despite his somewhat impulsive actions to save her from the disaster when Unit Zero had been activated for the first time, he had not hesitated in ordering her to 'do it again' while crippled and in great pain when the Third Angel had shown up. No matter what affection he may or may not have for her, it was clear that ultimately she was replaceable.

Her life had been a science experiment. Born in a laboratory deep in Terminal Dogma, the most basic human norms were well beyond her comprehension or understanding, even if she had known of their existence. She was disliked by many of those who had 'raised' her such as Doctor Akagi, but she had neither cared about nor known about this, such was the focus of her worldview. Indeed, it had only been in the last years that she had been exposed to the bewildering world outside the Geofront, most of which she ignored as irrelevant. She felt something like affection towards the one who had given her this purpose, but ultimately, no more than that.

Until Shinji Ikari had appeared.

For perhaps the first time in her life, she had felt curiosity. A desire to know something about someone you have encountered, rather than simply ignoring him as you ignored anyone who you had not explicitly been instructed to interact with. She felt some kind of connection that you could neither understand nor simply ignore and he in turn had reciprocated your curiosity in an almost overwhelming fashion. He had challenged the very foundations of your life with direct and logical words that undermined everything you knew to be true.

Before she had met Shinji, she would not have hesitated to dive into the Lava _if_ she had been ordered to do so. Orders were to be followed, and it was impossible to truly fear death if you knew yourself to be incapable of truly dying. Indeed, even against the 5th Angel when she had protected Shinji from the particle beam by placing herself in its path, she had only done so because she had been ordered to protect Unit One - and because Shinji had called for her to cover him.

But that was then.

And this was now.

Rei Ayanami was no longer indifferent to the possibility of dying - not since she had accepted her uniqueness could never be replaced if she did.

She _wanted _to live.

She _wanted _to try and struggle through the confusing demands placed on her from her friends, her creator and her heritage and determine her own purpose in this world.

But despite all this, without orders, without a command and without waiting, she ejected her Evangelions power cord and flexed her units muscles, leaping from the edge of the lip of the canyon-like crater that overlooked the Lava below. Gravity promptly took a hold of the Evangelion and _pulled_, her leap arcing into a vertical dive meters away from the cluster of coolant lines reaching down in the depths of the lava, her Evangelion's arms extended out in front of her as if she was diving into the pool back at Headquaters.

All of her life, Commander Ikari had given her a purpose to live for.

And now, as she plunged towards the Lava to save her friend ... for the first time in her life since she had discovered mortality, Rei Ayanami had found to her surprise that she had something worth _dying _for.

* * *

Shinji's attention was so completely focused on the collage of images on the Command Centers massive screen that he didn't notice the reactions of the rest of the personnel to the rapidly unfolding events. Gasps and cries of shock had echoed across the command centre as data link with Unit Two was cut alongside the coolant lines, but Shinji was incapable of hearing anything over the deafening sound of his heart beating in his ears, or feel anything but the distant ache in his hands as he _squeezed _his fists tighter than he ever had before.

But barely a second after the transmission had been lost, Unit Zero _moved_.

Shinji's head had snapped around as the Evangelion moved, the MAGI resizing the window at once, a shot from an orbiting QV-22 tracking Unit Zero blowing up to pride of place as it leapt into action. His heart, if it was at all possible, started to beat even faster as Rei _threw_ herself at the Lava, _both _people he cared about so much now in mortal danger as his mouth moved silently and spoke her name.

It was a memory of a promise made. A recognition of a danger embraced willingly by a friend to save a friend. And an acknowledgement of the hope that had been born where only despair had existed in his heart moments ago.

"REI!"

His Father however, didn't moderate his tone, and the entire command centre seemed to recoil from this unexpected explosion of emotion from the Commander, silencing the entire room as if a switch had been thrown.

If Ayanami heard the Commander's yell she did not respond, Evangelion Unit Zero falling rapidly towards the lava into a perfect dive, as if Rei was going for a swim back at the Headquaters swimming pool. The diving titan seemed to blur and waver on the screen as the camera paned to track her descent, the very air around her taking on a deep purple hue as her AT Field unfolded and ramped up to maximum power just before the Evangelion crashed into the surface.

A giant explosion of Lava erupted from the impact point as, protected by the frictionless AT field, Unit Zero slicing down through the molten rock and causing the image to tilt wildly and cutting out for a moment as the unmanned aircraft providing the picture shifted track to avoid being splattered by the impact of the molten rock shooting into the air, a ripple slicing across the pool of lava as the datalinks to Unit Zero went as dark as unit Two's.

Except for the 'Estimated endurance in High-Gain Activity mode' timer, which was counting backwards from sixty seconds in bright red numerals.

Shinji stared at the screen as second after agonizing second passed, the image focused entirely on the coolant lines being reeled in as ripples and waves from Rei's dramatic entry ever so slowly dissipated.

Fifty seconds.

The background chatter, from the command van if not the command centre, picked up as people said things about line weights and shifts in feedback, but he didn't process it, his eyes focused entirely on the screen, even his emotions seeming to fade away behind a terrible and focused concentration on the slightly static filled image.

Forty seconds.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he noted that Aoba had abandoned his console and was standing next to him, his hand a gesture of silent support that Shinji was simply too wound up to appreciate, merely noting it for now and keeping his attention on the screen as his heartbeat continued to drown everything out.

Thirty seconds.

He had felt like this once before - during the Third Impact. But rather than being completely overwhelmed and at the mercy of emotions, this time he existed in state completely stripped of them. As if Rei and Asuka had carried those parts of himself into this void where they were neither living nor dead, and every second that passed in time with the beating of his heart was as if a lifetime passed.

_Twenty _seconds.

And then it happened.

An explosion of lava erupted once more, but this time from the under the surface, around the coolant lines. The lava seemed to heave as something under it forced its way upwards. The arm of Evangelion Unit Zero broke through a moment later, its hand gripping the entire cluster of cables as a single handhold that hauled it upwards as lava washed away harmlessly, unable to gain any hold through the force of Rei Ayanami's indomitable will made manifest.

An eternity later, Shinji's emotions exploded back into his head with the force of an N2 weapon as the Evangelions second arm hauled from the depths of hell the battered, broken yet still very much intact D-Type suit of Evangelion Unit Two. Lava washed off the suit much slower, great rivers of it pouring down back into the Volcano as the two units ascended skyward steadily, moving closer and closer to the Canyon wall as the crane shuddered into life, retracting them towards it.

_TEN seconds_.

The timer continued to count down as the Evangelions ascended, and Shinji felt every muscle in his body clench as the seconds fell away until, with a mighty blur of motion that reminded everyone _just _how strong the Evangelions actually were, Rei _threw _Asuka, D-Type suit and all, up and over the lip of the crater to safety. Unit Two landed awkwardly on one leg, but it was a _controlled_ landing that told him, right then and there, that Asuka was _alive_ - a thought confirmed a moment later as the D-Type suit simply _exploded _off the Eva with a flex of the Second Childs own AT field.

Behind her Rei swung backwards, recoiling from the sheer force of the throw, but like a pendulum, she swung back towards the cliff and at the apogee she leaped from the lines, sailing up and over the cliff to a typically graceful landing, snatching the discarded power cable up to reconnect herself as the timer reached 00:00:01.

With full power restored, she turned to offer a hand to Unit Two and with a loud _crack _that Shinji head in the back of his mind, if not over the roaring cheers and wild applause that had broken out in the command centre, Asuka didn't hesitate in slapping her own hand Evas into Rei's. The Second Child hauled her Eva to its foot, the two placing arms around each other's shoulders as Rei started to help Asuka hobble away from the edge of the cliff on her Low-Gain battery power towards the recovery zone, data links flashing back into life on the side of the screen...

All in the green for the pilot status indicators.

And as spots started to form in front of his eyes, Shinji finally let himself exhale the breath he had been holding for far too long.

"_Thank you Rei_" he said softly to the image on the screen, his voice soft, but not in any way that diminished the huge array of emotion in the three simple words, before he finally turned and accepted the proffered hand of Aoba and shaking it firmly.

"Shinji" a voice called out from above, and he turned, glancing at the highest tier in the command centre as the raucous celebrations continued unabated at the certain loss of two Evangelion's and their pilots turned around in less than a minute to the recovery of both alive; focusing on the Vice Commander who had called for him.

His Father, unsurprisingly, had already left.

"That was very quick - and smart - thinking with the coolant" the other praised him in the tone of the professor he still was, as if greatly pleased with the actions of one of his students. "Very good work indeed".

"Thank you, Vice Commander" he nodded to the other, "but I think Asuka and Rei deserve the praise today".

"And rest assured, they will get it" the other inclined his head with a slight bow before he caught Aoba's eye. "Lieutenant, stand down Unit One and set condition green across Toyko-3. Liaise with Captain Katsuragi and organize the recovery of Units Zero and Two as soon as possible".

"Yes Sir" Aoba saluted as the Vice Commander in turn left, probably going after his Father, wherever he had gone to. Aoba gave Shinji a final slap on the back that made him stagger slightly before he headed back to his console and started to give orders that toned down the noise, if not the euphoric mood in the command centre.

Breathing deeply as his own adrenalin levels slowly returned to normal, Shinji smiled to himself at the live feed once more, seeing the entry plugs eject as the field recovery teams moved in, before he turned and headed for the locker room to take a long -cold- shower and head for home.

He had a meal to get started on, after all.

* * *

That Penguin was eyeing her again.

She couldn't prove it, and she _knew_ it was crazy to be concerned about what the damn bird did as it circled the surface of the hot spring making highly content sounds, being another species and all ...

But she was _almost_ sure it was trying to steal glances at her every time it drifted past.

Then after a second to examine the ridiculousness of the thought, she rolled her eyes away from the bird. Let it look! All it would see would be the sculpted _perfection_ of her stunning body after all - and it was highly unlikely it would try and make a pass at her.

Smiling slightly to herself at the amusing thought for a moment, her face fell back to a more dour expression as she turned her gaze from the genetically engineered avian and towards the distant orange sun as it set over the mountains. Naked except for a towel draped across her hips, she could feel the heat from the distant star striking her skin, but she found little warmth in it. Nor did she find much joy in the genuinely beautiful vista, as the sunset painted the hills and mountains around her a golden orange that was far removed from the hellish reds and blacks she had been submerged in earlier.

Because in utter defiance of the fact that she had gone swimming in molten stone earlier in the day or had her feet resting inside the warm water of the hot springs... she felt ... cold.

Shinji had been right on the money about this operation - _disturbingly_ so in fact - but she felt confident enough with where they stood with each other now that he wouldn't rub it in her face ... at least not publicly.

No, part of what was leaving her feeling cold was the memory of her conversation with Ikari in his bed a few days ago, about the nightmares that had been plaguing him. Of her Evangelion falling into the black depths of an ocean and his leap into the water to save her ... only for their extended hands to miss as he was dragged back to the surface as she sunk, screaming for him to do something before her Evangelion had been crushed before his eyes.

Now, granted, she had been stuck in a volcano and not the ocean, and this was the 8th Angel and not the 6th ... but her skin none the less crawled as she remembered the conversation and noted how his dreams almost _exactly_ described her near death experience today ... with the pointed difference that Rei had _not_ missed when the time had come.

Shifting her gaze from the distant ball of nuclear fusion slowly setting behind the mountains in this part of Japan, she glanced at Rei, who was floating much further away in the deeper part of the spring with her eyes closed and holding herself so still she almost seemed asleep. Asuka couldn't help but envy the First Child the content peace she seemed to be drifting in, but it was envy she could easily suppress, as indebted as she was to her. Rei had saved her life, without question - and without orders, something she honestly had not expected. Shinji she could see being so impulsive as to leap into a volcano to save her - or Rei - from death, and she liked to think that she wouldn't have hesitated to do so either...

But she had been taken completely by surprise when her Evangelion had crashed to a halt just as it had started to plummet, before being jolting once again into an ascent once more. She had been almost resigned to her fate - probably just shock she reflected - but when she had finally looked up to see Unit Zero had entered the Lava and was firmly holding onto her and _dragging _her back from the land of the dead to the land of the living...

It had been a genuine epiphany that had struck her at that moment. The part of her that had always rejected relying on _anyone_ but herself for _any _reason finally died as her Evangelion had broken through the surface of the lava, still held in Rei's iron grip.

Finally, she understood, _truly_ understood that there was absolutely nothing diminishing with relying on others as much as she relied on herself. So long as she always demanded the best of _herself _and didn't use others as crutches, putting her fate into the hands of others that she genuinely trusted - as few or as many people as that might be- no longer held either shame or humiliation for her.

She had not really known what to say to Rei for what she had done when they had been getting changed out of their plug suits at the temporary facilities at the volcano. Her actions seemed to warrant a speech, an effusive litany of praise and promises of being paid back in full ... but ultimately when she had stood face to face with the First Child, all she had been able to say, full of emotion, was 'Thank you, Rei'.

To which the First Child had simply smiled one of those rare small smiles she gave out sparingly and told her that she was welcome ... and somehow, that had been enough.

Which is what made Misato's betrayal of that trust today so hard to stomach.

Her nostrils flared slightly as she considered the _other _thing that was making her uncomfortable at the spa. It was one thing for Misato to risk her life when the Angels _attacked _them. That was war, that was _survival_. But Asuka felt very ... _possessive_ about her life. And she did _not _appreciate it being taken out of her hands on a high-risk capture operation, the risks of which had clearly been _grossly _underestimated by NERV. It was one thing for her to be lowered to a 'dormant' Angel at the limit of the D-Types rated strength to recover a dormant Angel, but dropping her that far past the red line without even bothering to ask, pressing this operation against the Angel so aggressively, almost fanatically?

Was the capture of the Angel worth so much to Misato?

Or was, in truth, her life worth so little? All of the conclusions she had come to about Misato only yesterday, that she really cared about her ... was that just wishful thinking on her part?

An awkward silence had sprung up between them, probably not helped by her comment immediately after leaving her entry plug and saying, no doubt on the record to the people in the command van given the number of radios in the area, that NERV could find some other pilot to send on the next suicide mission they came up with. What little they had said to each other had been ... short. Even now, with Misato only two meters away from her, sitting on another rock and facing the same setting sun, the silence between them was deafening.

She dealt with the situation by ignoring it.

Instead, she kept her focus on the Hot Spring. She had never been to one before, she would at least give Misato that one; it was _truly_ something else, even if she was having trouble truly enjoying it. No concerns about running out of hot water, the ability to swim around, stunning scenery and a beautiful sunset ...

"I've never told you about how I got this scar, have I?"

Asuka blinked and turned to Misato, who was still staring off into the distance next to her. Of all the things she had _expected_ her to say to try and force a break in the silence ...

"No" she answered shortly, knowing without any further explanation which scar she was talking about; the slightly discoloured area of skin between her -annoyingly perfect- breasts, the only mark on her otherwise flawless skin.

"I picked it up at the Second Impact" Misato said and Asuka nodded slowly, slightly confused.

"I ... guess most people who survived Second Impact were injured" she hazarded, with a frown but Misato shook her head slightly, her gaze still that distant stare people adopted when reflecting on their memories.

"No, I received this _at _the Second Impact - at ground zero" Misato clarified, and despite the fact that she was _genuinely_ upset with Misato right now, Asuka put those feelings on the back burner as a wave of goose bumps flushed over her skin, listening as Misato admitted she had been in the center of the greatest calamity in the history of the human species. And that despite knowing her for years, she had never told her until now.

"My Father led the expedition" Misato continued, ignorant of or ignoring the reaction of the Second Child next to her at that information. "He was the lead researcher into the First Angel - although I didn't know _that _back then. He was a poor Father - he apparently divorced my mother because his work took precedence, but the truth was that he was simply running away from something he couldn't handle; having to take responsibility for his family. It was the first time in years I had seen him, he insisted I come to visit him for a week because he wanted to 'show me the bright future he was building'. So I went - as much because I would get a week off school and see a part of the world few people ever did, I suppose".

Asuka didn't say anything, letting Misato continue her story. A glance at Rei showed her still floating sedately with her eyes closed in the shimmering golden water, so she turned her attention fully to the Captain.

"I didn't understand what was happening when the Second Impact started" Misato stated with a slight frown. "I knew there was some huge experiment today on I couldn't really care about, but the first I knew something was wrong was when the ground heaved under me and winds like a hurricane seemed to come out of nowhere, the two forces ripping apart the building I was in and knocking me out. I don't know how long I was unconscious. Seconds? Minutes? But I remember drifting in and out as my Father found me, pulled me out of the wreckage and staggered to a survival capsule, carrying me the whole way. I caught glimpses of something over his shoulder several times, something I still have nightmares about to this day..."

"The First Angel" Asuka qualified as Misato seemed to hesitate, as if she was unable to even label what Asuka knew she must have seen. As if the sight of it alone had been so disturbing that even fifteen years later and the leading officer of an organization that had _destroyed_ multiple Angels, it was still too much for her.

Whatever the reason, the Captain just nodded silently at her observation, and continued the story.

"I started to come around when he reached the survival pod and dropped me inside. He was bleeding - badly - and I was just aware enough to call out for him when he sealed the capsule. Second Impact proper happened at that moment and I lost consciousness again as the capsule was picked up and flung out into the Antarctic ocean" she concluded, glancing down at her chest and scar under her right Brest that she touched gently with a hand tracing the outline. "I don't know exactly where this scar came from, if it was from the building collapse or being thrown around in the capsule, but it's been a part of me since then".

Asuka didn't say anything - continuing to allow Misato to tell her story at her own pace.

"No matter what I thought about him, no matter how bad our relationship was ... at the end of his life, my Father managed to pull me out of the rubble, carry me through the hell that was the surface camp and put me into a survival capsule that saved my life. I didn't know, after that, if I was supposed to love him or hate him. All I had left of him was a desire, a _need _to hurt the Angels for what they had done. I didn't know - I _still_ don't know to this day- if I want to kill them to 'pay back' my Father for saving my life, so I can be free of him. Or if they need to die in revenge for taking a man who might have loved me, but had never been able to express it until one final act. All I know is I _hate_ them. And because of my hate, today I crossed a line I should never have crossed ".

Asuka was taken slightly aback as Misato finally turned to face her, her expression twisted into something like guilt. Or perhaps regret.

"That minute you were both out of contact today in the Lava ... when it hit me that I might have just gotten you and Rei killed, I realized I had just done exactly what my Father had done. I wasn't thinking about you or Rei or what kind of danger I was putting you in. I was so focused on the Angel I just _ignored_ every objection Shinji had made - despite the fact that he made so much _sense!_"

"Misato ... I" Asuka started to try and respond, but the other held up a hand briefly to silence her, continuing to almost ramble - as much at herself as her, Asuka thought, as her gaze returned to the distant mountains as the orange ball of the sun slowly sunk behind them.

"When the Angels attack Tokyo-3, I've kept telling myself that I have to do whatever it takes to defeat them. Because we have no choice when they come; either we kill them, or they kill humanity. And that's how you justify it Asuka; how you can send fourteen year old children off to war. It's what you tell yourself when you come up with battle plans that have a decent chance of getting a child killed in action, _never_ admitting you might be doing it because of your own selfish reasons, but saying that you simply have no choice. And until I witnessed _Rei Ayanami _willing to risk sacrificing her life to save yours, until you called me and the command staff on sending you on a suicide mission and an almost embarrassed silence fell over the command van ... I just ignored that voice in the back of my head that said I was lying to myself. I ignored the voice that told me I was willing to put every one of you in unnecessary danger to ... _indulge_ my hate for the Angels. It was only when I thought I had lost you that it hit me that this was entirely my fault. That for once I couldn't justify this out of the necessity of reacting _to _the Angels, that I had been just as willing to risk your lives, ignore Shinjis warnings, just to _hurt _the Angels. And for that" she slowly exhaled, shifting her gaze back to her, guilt openly written over the older woman's face, "I ... I'm sorry Asuka".

Asuka turned away from the raw emotion in the gaze, her mind somewhat scattered at both the history Misato had just supplied, and the sheer weight behind the confession she had just made. The hurt and anger she had been holding onto as if it was a nice comforting blanket seemed to simply dissipate, as if it was no more substantial then the steam rising from the Onsen, leaving her even more naked than she already was.

Ever since she had lost her Mother _that _day so many years ago, she had lived by a simple rule. Never show weakness, never let them see you cry, never let them see you hurt. To do so was to show weakness, which she would never do. She would live for herself, she would think for herself because she could not trust anyone else.

Misatos confession _should _have completely reinforced everything she held to be true. That once again, someone close to her that she had put her trust in had betrayed that trust.  
Yet she found she couldn't. And it wasn't simply because she couldn't find the energy to hold onto her hate ... the truth was that now _she _felt guilty. Misato had just laid bare her soul, told her some of the most secret truths about herself and the rationale behind her actions, admitting the lines she had crossed without asking her forgiveness.

Yet Misatos honestly compelled her own ... and against almost a decade of denying even the possibility of openly showing weakness, Asuka stood without a word and crossed the few meters to Misato, sitting down next to her before, hesitantly placing an arm around her as she, almost shyly, leaned against the other.

"Don't beat yourself up over it Misato" she said as she too stared out at the distant sunset. "Shinji laid out the risks right _next_ to me in almost annoying detail when he decided he didn't want any part of this. I had every chance to agree, but I was too pissed at him to use my head. I was perfectly willing to jump into the Lava - and it takes two to tango Katsuragi".

"You were upset with Shinji? Why?" Misato asked and Asuka stepped around the purely instinctive reaction to close up and protect herself from the others question, just feeling ... tired.

"It was the Committee" she exhaled. "This whole thing ... this whole mess ... Keel and his merry men were pushing me about Shinji. Wanted to know how I felt about him, what I thought about him. They were asking me more about him than about me - really pushing it. I mean Misato, _I _don't even know what I feel about Shinji - if anything" she hastened to add. "He just keeps ... I don't know ..."

"Getting under your skin? Seeming to know _exactly _what you're thinking before you do?" the other posited, and Asuka blinked, turning her head slightly from where it was resting on the others shoulder, before turning away from the almost knowing look on the others face.

"Yeah" she muttered her agreement. "All I could think about all day was how Shinji had covered himself with glory from day one, and despite my training, my years of work, I had done nothing but look like a bumbling idiot next to him in the eyes of the committee. So when he refused to step up, I would do so instead ... and I almost got myself killed because of it. Exactly as he predicted. I _did _get myself killed honestly, but Rei saved my life".

"Asuka, ignore the Committee. They were probably pushing you about Shinji entirely because he's an unknown factor to them - not to mention the Commanders son - and were hoping someone as close to him as you are could give them a read on him, or even something to use when they talked to him. Kaji called me earlier - after he ran into Shinji after the meeting. It seems Keel and his merry men tried to offer him new living arrangements, to try and 'spare me' the enormous effort I was having to 'spend' looking after both of you".

Asuka rose from her annoyingly comfortable resting position against the older woman, feeling a sudden chill in the air at Mistaos statement that didn't have much to do with the sun continuing to dip under the horizon in the distance, turning to face her.

"They..._what_ did they do?" she asked, not entirely able to hide the surprise and uncertainty in her tone at the surprisingly jarring thought of Shinji moving out of the apartment - but she didn't dare look too closely at the sudden surge of apprehension that she suppressed at the thought of Shinji packing up and moving out from their apartment...

"According to Kaji, they brought his Grandfather in. Apparently he was involved in the GEHERN group along with Shinjis mother and had full clearance on the Evangelion program" Misato explained. "He offered Shinji the opportunity to move in with him - was willing to move to Tokyo-3 to make it happen, all entirely to give _me _a break from having to 'look after' both of you - because _apparently _I was overworked between my job and both of you, not that anyone ever asked me what _I _thoughtof this. Clearly, they thought that he would rather be with his family again".

"So ... what did Shinji say?" she asked levelly ... refusing to acknowledge the sudden surge of dread that spiked in her stomach at the thought of Shinji moving out for some reason and noting the almost scornful edge in Misatos words at the 'offer' the Committee had made.

"He told them to take their offer and shove it" Misato smirked, but in that smirk Asuka saw that her guardian was genuinely touched by Shinjis response ... and it only made the surge of guilt she felt at how she had treated Shinji all day that much sharper ... but she accepted it rather than acknowedlge the curious surge of relief she felt at the news that Shinji was not leaving her ... _them_. "So don't give a damn about those armchair Generals second guessing you either Asuka. You're a hell of a pilot - today was the toughest battle we've ever been in and you handled yourself incredibly well. Regardless of our motives going into this, you rose to the challenge today. I'm proud of you - and Rei of course".

"As am I" a sort voice came from behind them and the pair jumped, both twisting to see Rei, water dripping lightly from her pale skin as she dried herself off, the two other women so engrossed in their conversation they had missed her silently gliding to the edge of the hot springs and pulling herself out of the water. "But" the other continued, and for a second Asuka swore she saw a hint of mirth in the scarlet eyes of the other, "I believe you still owe me dinner tonight".

Asuka snorted slightly at _that _understatement. "I owe you a _banquet _Rei_" _she corrected the other as she also stood, catching her towel as it threatened to fall into the hot spring. "Buuuut we should probably get going if Shinji and I are going to have time to get everything ready".

It only took the trio fifteen minutes to dry off and get dressed - and only another ten minutes for Misato to chase down the highly reluctant penguin who _really _did not want to leave and get it onto the VTOL waiting patiently in the otherwise empty car park, but then they were off, rocketing South East towards Tokyo 3 as the long day slowly turned towards night.


End file.
